If you are a care home provider please ensure you read through this important information.
In 2020 a decision was made to change the way that safety needles are accessed across Hertfordshire reflecting HSE and NHSE guidance. The implementation of this decision was delated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 1st July 2022 the below should be followed:
- Safety needles should NOT be prescribed on FP10 for use by healthcare professionals and employees; it is the healthcare employer’s* responsibility to provide them.2,3
- Safety needles which incorporate automatic safety locks should be used by all healthcare professionals and by all employees in the healthcare sector when administering insulin to patients.
- Safety needles CAN be prescribed on FP10 for use for patients whose insulin is administered by a non-professional healthcare worker, e.g. carer
* A healthcare employer is an employer whose primary activity is the management, organisation or provision of healthcare.
What does this mean for care homes ?
- For care homes without nursing insulin is usually administered by the community nursing team employed by Hertfordshire Community Trust. This means they will provide their own safety needles and you will no longer need to request them on prescription – please use any stock up and stop ordering new stock immediately.
- For care homes with nursing and the nurses administer insulin the care home will be required to purchase safety needles. These can be purchased from your usual supplying pharmacy or other supplier that you have a contract with.
- GPs will be asked to remove safety needles from repeat templates and you will no longer be able to order safety needles on prescription.
References:
- Needles for Insulin pens.pdf (enhertsccg.nhs.uk)
- Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013. Guidance for employers and employees http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hsis7.pd
- NHSE: Items which should not be routinely prescribed in primary care: Guidance for CCGs. Version June 2019. https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/items-which-should-not-routinely-be-prescribed-in-primary-carev2.1.pdf