Hundreds of patients in HIV scare as doctor tests positive
‘Risk of infection extremely low’
HUNDREDS of patients at hospitals across three counties have been recalled for blood tests after a doctor tested positive for HIV.
The recall affects patients who were under the care of the locum doctor, who worked in orthopaedics but has not been named, at three hospital trusts between June 2010 and February 2015.
The hospitals said 400 patients who had undergone ‘ invasive procedures where there is a potential risk of infection’ had been identified and invited back for a precautionary blood test.
Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has recalled 120 patients, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has recalled 223 and Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has recalled 57. Nottingham’s medical director, Dr Stephen Fowlie, said the doctor – who no longer works in the NHS – had treated patients and then subsequently been diagnosed with HIV. The medic’s gender has not been revealed.
Dr Fowlie said: ‘The risk that any patient has been infected by transmission of the virus from this doctor is extremely low. However, because the doctor’s diagnosis was unknown during their employment with us [2013 to 2015], we are contacting patients who had at-risk operations involving this doctor to advise they return to hospital for a blood test as a precaution.
‘ Transmission of the virus between an infected healthcare worker and a patient with an open wound can only occur if health workers themselves have an injury with bleeding when they are delivering care. There is no evidence this happened to this doctor.’
The recall period was set because June 2010 marked the last recorded negative HIV test the doctor had. It was in December 2015 that the medic – working at Heart of England NHS Trust (HEFT) in Birmingham at the time – realised they may be infected. A blood test confirmed the doctor was HIV positive in February 2016.
HEFT found only one potential case where a patient may have been at risk, but they could not be traced.
The doctor also worked at other trusts but a review found no patients were put at risk.
The medic had conditions imposed on their registration by the General Medical Council following diagnosis, but was given an interim suspension order earlier this year after failing ‘to comply with the conditions placed upon them’.
The Royal Cornwall, in Treliske, said the doctor worked there for a six-month period in orthopaedics between 2011 and 2012. Medical director Dr Malcolm Stewart stressed that the risk of the virus having been passed on to any patients was extremely low, adding: ‘There has not been any instance of cross-infection following similar look-back exercises in the UK in the past.’
Under health service rules, a health care worker who is diagnosed with HIV can return to work as long as they maintain a course of drugs which eradicate the virus in the bloodstream. They must also follow all appropriate infection control procedures and any other restrictions on their practice that their professional body may order.