Screening Measures For New Healthcare Workers Strengthened

The Department of Health has published new guidance to the NHS on screening new health care workers for tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. These measures reinforce and strengthen existing guidance and will help further reduce the risk of transmission of TB and blood-borne viruses from health care worker to patient.

All new health workers will require medical checks for tuberculosis andvhepatitis B and will be offered vaccinations if needed. In addition, all those new to performing “exposure prone procedures” that carry an increased risk of cross infection such as surgery or obstetrics and gynaecology must be cleared for hepatitis C and HIV.

The guidance follows expert advice from a risk assessment group and consultation with stakeholders including the NHS, the Royal Colleges, academic institutions and public health bodies. It aims to strike a balance between the risk to patients and the privacy of health care workers.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said: “Our aim is not to prevent new healthcare workers with blood-borne viruses from working in the NHS, but to stop them working in clinical areas where their infection may pose a risk to patients in their care.

“These new measures will protect patients, reduce the number of patient notification exercises and help new health care workers to make appropriate career choices.”

Dr. Alison Rimmer, Chairman of the Association of NHS Occupational Physicians, said: “This guidance will be very helpful in ensuring that new health care workers are screened appropriately at the start of their NHS careers so that those who are infected with serious communicable diseases can be guided into appropriate areas where their health problems pose no risks to them from their work, and where they would pose no risk to patients.

“It will be very useful in ensuring that screening practice across the NHS, which is currently inconsistent, is standardised. It will also enable us to ensure that these new recruits to our workforce are treated appropriately for conditions which they may not know they have, before their health deteriorates. It is very welcome.”

Alongside the new measures on screening healthcare workers, Caroline Flint also announced a limited relaxation of restrictions on hepatitis B infected health care workers who are taking antiviral drug therapy.

Under new guidance published today, all hepatitis B infected health care workers with relatively low levels of infection will be allowed to perform exposure prone procedures whilst taking long-term drug therapy to suppress replication of the virus. These workers will however be subject to regular checks by occupational health.

Caroline Flint said: “Our relaxation of the restrictions on hepatitis B infected healthcare workers is a sensible measure based on advice from experts. The guidance sets out the criteria for skilled hepatitis B infected healthcare workers to carry out a full range of duties while taking antiviral drug therapy without compromising patient safety. We are determined to take a balanced approach to this whole issue and only implement restrictions where necessary to protect patients.”