Diabetic needled by bin move

Thomas Eastham . . . waste worries of bin full of needles

A DIABETIC says he has been left with a bin full of used needles because his doctor suddenly refused to take them.

Thomas Eastham (70) was shocked when the town centre Marjorie Lees Health Centre told him they would no longer accept the special sharps bin for disposal.

That was a month ago and he has unsuccessfully tried to find out what to do with the waste — while a second bin fills up with the pens he uses to inject himself.

Mr Eastham, of Kingston Avenue, Derker, has had type 2 diabetes since 2001 and said: “The centre said they had a memo from the hospital telling them not to take sharps bins off people because they have to pay for them.

“It’s not just me that’s in this situation. But some people are not going to be like me and try and find out what to do with the sharps. They are just going to throw them in the dustbin.”

However, Pennine Acute Trust, which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital, said that it had not sent out a memo about sharps bins to doctors.

NHS Oldham, responsible for community-based health services, has an agreement with doctors and pharmacies to collect their medical waste.

Practices are not charged for this and no information has been given out to say that sharps bins cannot be collected, it confirmed.

A spokesman for NHS Oldham said: “We are sorry to hear that one of our patients has had difficulty in disposing of his sharps bin. I would like to offer my sincere apologies.

“We provide a service to collect full sharps bins from Marjory Lees Health Centre and are working with the practice to ensure that the patient can dispose of his used needles more easily in future. We will be ensuring that the patient is contacted.”

The health centre said that the situation was being investigated and would not comment further.