NEEDLE SHAME ON CITY STREET
ONE of Wales’ most senior doctors has described her horror at spotting a large pile of used and blood-stained needles outside a block of flats.
Dr Rebecca Payne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs in Wales, said she was visiting a patient at Avondale Court on Clarence Road, Butetown, when she noticed the “dangerous” objects.
As well as dozens of both used and unused needles, the GP said there were also several condoms, all of which were blocking the front entrance.
After contacting South Wales Police, whom she claims suggested she pick them up herself, she then got in touch with Cardiff council.
The council confirmed that Cardiff Community Housing Association (CCHA), a registered social landlord which manages almost 3,000 homes in south east Cardiff, was responsible for clearing them.
“I have been working as an out-ofhours GP for years and I have never encountered anything like this before,” said Dr Payne.
“If a child had been walking past they could have run along and picked them up. They could have given someone HIV.
“Because the pile was so big I couldn’t tell what had been used and what hadn’t. It was really, really dangerous.
“It was literally yards away from the police station in Cardiff Bay, but the police said it wasn’t their responsibility.”
She said she called the police on their non-emergency 101 number on Monday at about 5.30am.
She added: “GP out-of-hours has responsibility to notify someone (if needles are found), but it’s not appropriate for the service to start removing contaminated sharps from the street.”
In response, CCHA said: “As soon as we were made aware of the issue on Monday morning, we arranged for one of our cleaning contractors Dazzle to attend the property in question and safely dispose of the materials.
“When they arrived at 9.50am, there were no needles located on site, as the materials had already been cleared by another one of our contractors, Pegasus, as part of their routine duties that morning (at 8.34am).
“We have never previously experienced an issue of this type at this scheme, but our anti-social behaviour team will continue to monitor the situation.”
There are 20 flats at Avondale Court, which was built in 2000.
It was not known if the needles were used to inject illegal drugs or were for medicinal use.
A spokesman for South Wales Police said: “Discarded drug litter and paraphernalia can and does cause a risk to public health, so police officers will regularly patrol known hot spot areas as a deterrent to drug users.
“Wherever possible, officers will also remove objects which pose a risk if they come across them while they are patrolling these areas.
“However, the clearance of such material from public spaces is the responsibility of the council’s street cleaning teams, or in some cases the relevant housing association, and the caller would have been respectfully advised of this at the time.
“Members of public should always contact the local authority or the relevant housing association in the first instance as they are geared up and equipped to respond and deal most effectively with the issue.”