The sharp end of diabetes nursing

I recently chaired a webinar discussing the impact and the risk of needle stick injuries (NSIs) with insulin injections. I sat with two other specialist nurses and we explored why these injuries still occur in practice. This is not a new problem, and we are all aware to some extent of the safety concerns of needlestick injuries as health care workers.

The NHS became bound from 11 May 2013 by the The Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013 which implements aspects of the European Council Directive 2010/32/EU that were not specifically addressed by previous GB legislation. The aim of this directive, amongst other things, was to further reduce risk and increase safety and protection of its workers. The legal obligations were also extended to include those surrounding the provision of sharps disposal systems whereby The Care Quality Commission (CQC) provides necessary licenses to NHS healthcare services if they meet the standards dictated by the aforementioned acts.