Bournemouth Dental Patients Given All-clear Over Health Scare

Tue, 13 Apr 2010

Health bosses in Bournemouth have confirmed that poor hygiene at one of the town’s dental surgeries did not lead to patients contracting HIV or hepatitis .

Nearly 2,000 patients of the Poole Lane Dental Practice in Kinson were given blood tests after concerns were raised over the cross-infection and sterilisation procedures carried out by a locum dentist who worked at the practice between January and October 2008.

Last summer some 1,953 people were booked into one of four community clinics staffed by specialist nurses and consultants from the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and community health services, who carried out blood tests on each patient.

Those whose tests were clear were told in writing while those who tested positive were contacted by the genito-urinary medicine service.

A similar programme was carried out at the same time in other primary care trusts in the south-west where the locum had worked.

But a spokeswoman for NHS Bournemouth and Poole said the results of the tests showed that the infections had not been contracted at the Poole Lane Dental Practice .

She commented: "The number of positive results was extremely low, in line with expectations, and these infections were contracted elsewhere and were not as a result of the work of the locum."

The locum at the centre of the health scare, who had not been named, was removed from patient care in 2008 and no longer practices as a dentist in the UK.
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