Health-care workers are hopeful that Ontario will join several other provinces in requiring hospitals and doctors' offices to use to safety-engineered needles after  legislation to that effect cleared a hurdle in the legislature Thursday.

New Democrat Shelley Martel said her private members' bill, if passed into law, could prevent about 33,000 needle injuries a year. The safer needles are designed to retract into covers as soon as they are used.

"You can't let anyone use your razors, your toothbrush. Everyone is afraid of you." — Nurse Chris Vansickle says her life has changed since she was accidentally stabbed with a needle on the job

Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are already using safety-engineered needles, which can prevent health-care workers from contracting blood-borne diseases including Hep-C and HIV, Martel said.

"The matter is urgent," said Martel, who noted Nova Scotia will mandate the use of the needles in 2007, with British Columbia to follow in 2008. "We need to protect workers in Ontario as workers in five other provinces are being protected."

Martel's bill passed second reading in the legislature Thursday and now goes to committee for the second time. Martel introduced a similar bill in 2005 but, after passing second reading in the legislature, it died in committee.  

Chris Vansickle has high hopes the bill will finally become law. The Sarnia nurse, 51, said she was accidentally stabbed with a needle during a birth six years ago and has undergone years of testing for an array of diseases.

Her life hasn't been the same since, she said.

"You now take on their life — whatever they're carrying in their blood, you've got it," Vansickle said. "You have to take precautions for everything. You can't let anyone use your razors, your toothbrush. Your relationship with your husband is kind of diminished … everyone is afraid of you."

The government has a responsibility to protect all health-care workers by ensuring they work with safer needles, she said.

Costly program for hospitals

Although the Liberals allowed the bill to pass second reading, some expressed reluctance to see it become law. Liberal Monique Smith said the government has already given hospitals $11 million for safety-engineered needles.

But some procedures — such as spinal taps, bone marrows and acupuncture —  can't be done with such needles, she added.

While hospitals that have voluntarily brought in a safe needle program have experienced fewer injuries, Smith said the programs are more costly.

"We have some concerns with this particular piece of legislation while recognizing that there is a need to protect all of our front-line workers across the province," she told the legislature as health union representatives listened in the gallery.
   
Injuries caused by needles cost the government every year in tests, lost productivity and treatment, said Linda Haslam-Stroud, president of the Ontario Nurses' Association.

In other provinces and jurisdictions in the U.S. where safe needles are mandated, Haslam-Stroud said injuries have been cut by 80 per cent. "It's a no-brainer," she said.

The Conservatives supported the bill, saying it could save costs, and lives, in the long run. Tory MP Laurie Scott said needle technology has evolved and Ontario should adjust its laws to reflect that.