19,000 NHS NEEDLES GO MISSING IN NORTH WEST WALES

The dad of a schoolboy who had to be tested for HIV after he picked
up a syringe in a playground has called for stricter needle exchange
controls.

William Feeney's dad Liam spoke out as the Daily Post today reveals
nearly 20,000 hypodermic needles handed to drug addicts went missing
in north west Wales last year.

Between April 2007 and March 2008 North West Wales NHS Trust gave out
28,020 syringes but only 8,966, just 32%, were given back under
exchange programmes designed to prevent the spread of blood-borne
viruses.

It means more than 19,000 used needles are unaccounted
for.

The trust, which covers Llandudno, Bangor, Anglesey, Caernarfon and
as far south as Tywyn, has 2,241 drug addicts registered.

Campaigners are now calling for stricter controls to ensure addicts
bring back used syringes before chemists hand out
replacements.

A typical heroin user might inject up to four times a
day.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed in
Denbighshire alone there were 23 reports from the public worried
about discarded syringes they'd found, between February 2008 and
February 2009. Figures for other areas are yet to be released.

Liam Feeney is the father of little William Feeney who picked up a
used discarded hypodermic syringe on a footpath in the West End of
Colwyn Bay last April.

William, then five, was walking home to Rhos-on-Sea with his mum
Kirsty on a footbridge over the A55 when she found him sucking on a
syringe.

Both parents feared the worst but William was given the all clear in
October after months of waiting for test results for HIV and the
hepatitis viruses.

Liam, 34, is angered by the figures and says needle exchange
programmes should be more tightly regulated.

"I don't think they should be supplying needles, if they didn't
supply them where would they get them from," he said.

"If the needles weren't so readily available drug addicts wouldn't be
so quick to throw them on the floor.

"It makes me mad. When William picked up that syringe it was the
worst feeling in the world, the not knowing and the possible risks
involved - that what was so upsetting and frustrating.

"The needle exchange programme should be stricter.

"The council, police and NHS should address the whole drug issue not
just give out needles and hope the problem will go away. It should be
one for one -- one hypodermic syringe for another -- at the very minimum."