Pubdate: Mon, 16 Mar 2009
Source: Daily Post (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales Limited
Contact:  http://www.dailypost.co.uk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4288
Author: Richard Evans

19,000 NHS NEEDLES GO MISSING IN NORTH WEST WALES

The dad of a schoolboy who had to be tested for HIV  after he picked
up a syringe in a playground has called  for stricter needle exchange
controls.

William Feeney's dad Liam spoke out as the Daily Post  today reveals
nearly 20,000 hypodermic needles handed  to drug addicts went missing
in north west Wales last  year.

Between April 2007 and March 2008 North West Wales NHS  Trust gave out
28,020 syringes but only 8,966, just  32%, were given back under
exchange programmes designed  to prevent the spread of blood-borne
viruses.

It means more than 19,000 used needles are unaccounted 
for.

The trust, which covers Llandudno, Bangor, Anglesey,  Caernarfon and
as far south as Tywyn, has 2,241 drug  addicts registered.

Campaigners are now calling for stricter controls to  ensure addicts
bring back used syringes before chemists  hand out
replacements.

A typical heroin user might inject up to four times a 
day.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act  showed in
Denbighshire alone there were 23 reports from  the public worried
about discarded syringes they'd  found, between February 2008 and
February 2009. Figures  for other areas are yet to be released.

Liam Feeney is the father of little William Feeney who  picked up a
used discarded hypodermic syringe on a  footpath in the West End of
Colwyn Bay last April.

William, then five, was walking home to Rhos-on-Sea  with his mum
Kirsty on a footbridge over the A55 when  she found him sucking on a
syringe.

Both parents feared the worst but William was given the  all clear in
October after months of waiting for test  results for HIV and the
hepatitis viruses.

Liam, 34, is angered by the figures and says needle  exchange
programmes should be more tightly regulated.

"I don't think they should be supplying needles, if  they didn't
supply them where would they get them  from," he said.

"If the needles weren't so readily available drug  addicts wouldn't be
so quick to throw them on the  floor.

"It makes me mad. When William picked up that syringe  it was the
worst feeling in the world, the not knowing  and the possible risks
involved - that what was so  upsetting and frustrating.

"The needle exchange programme should be stricter.

"The council, police and NHS should address the whole  drug issue not
just give out needles and hope the  problem will go away. It should be
one for one -- one  hypodermic syringe for another -- at the very minimum."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin