An A&E doctor says his colleagues have noticed a rise in the number of children being treated for injuries from discarded needles in Brighton and Hove.
Dr Richard Webb asked medics in the children’s emergency department after his young son was told by nursery staff not to pick up leaves on a trip to Queen’s Park because it is too dangerous.
He raised the issue at a special meeting about drug dealing which was held last Wednesday after several needles were found in different locations in and around the park and drug users were regularly seen using the playground toilets.
The meeting heard how organised gangs are exploiting young people – sometimes underage children – to deal drugs at the park, and how services suffering from swingeing cuts are struggling to cope with the rise in drug trafficking.
In a letter read out at the meeting, Dr Webb said: “I am extremely concerned about the issue of potential sharps injuries in Queen’s Park from discarded needles from drug use.
“Last week my five year-old went on an autumn class trip to the park. Ninety children on the trip were asked not to pick up leaves due to concerns about needles on the ground. This is depressing and unacceptable.
“The following day I visited the children’s A&E to ask about whether they had seen a rise in sharps injuries among children from discarded needles. Anecdotally the answer seemed to be yes. The last such injury they had treated occurred the previous day.
“Viruses like HIV can survive on discarded needles for hours. Hepatitis B can survive for weeks. HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs is 28 times higher than among the rest of the population.
“If used needles continue to be discarded in Queen’s Park it seems only a matter of time before a child is infected with a blood-borne virus. Action is required urgently to avoid this awful scenario.”
The meeting also heard from Inspector Brian McCarthy, Brighton and Hove’s neighbourhood policing tea. He said organised gangs are supplying heroin in the area by dropping off to groups of addicts from cars, by targeting vulnerable people living alone in the community and use their dwellings, and by getting young people, often underage children, to act as carriers to deliver heroin to drop-off points in public spaces.
A house in Queen’s Park Road was served with a three-month closure order in August, banning all but its four residents from entering. A 14-year-old boy from Rotherhithe was charged with imprisoning two of the residents, beating one of them, possessing crack cocaine, stealing one of the residents’ mobile phones and being found with a knife outside the house.
Patrols have been stepped up around the park and an intelligence operation has been launched, but with half the city’s Police Community Support Officers made redundant last year, the police are not able to do as much as they would like.
To report needles, call the environment contact centre on 01273 292929 (or 01273 292229 out of hours). If you see drug dealing, open injecting or suspicious behaviour, call 999. To report number plates of cars seen dropping off drugs, call 101 or report it online.
Kat Smithson, Director of Policy and Campaigns at NAT (National AIDS Trust) said: “The problem of discarded needles is a concern for many people who would like public areas to be safe and pleasant, particularly for children.
“At the same time, it is important to reassure the public regarding HIV risk. HIV can be transmitted through the sharing of injecting drug equipment, however, HIV is a very delicate virus that does not survive outside the body well and therefore risk from a discarded needle is extremely low.
“Additionally, HIV prevalence amongst people who inject drugs is very low in the UK due to effective harm reduction programmes. There have been no cases anywhere in the world of somebody contracting HIV through a needle stick injury from a needle discarded in a public place.”
At the bottom of this article it says ring 999 yet, on the numerous times I have after seeing young teens selling drugs to heroin users I’ve been told to dial 101 and also, that I can’t have a crime number as it isn’t a crime as we can’t be sure what’s in the baggies being pulled out of socks and exchanged for money. Sad times and disgusting policing.
The problem with this is that people can’t afford to live… so there for people need to make money. The children that are dealing drugs most probably come from a broken home with no financial help or guidance from society so they turn to dealing for an income, children are taken care of by dealers, fed & clothed. This isn’t no bodies fault but the governments, this has what the government has done. Thanks
You can’t entirely blame the government, that is too simplistic a response.
Parents should take responsibility for parenting their children but too many don’t, for many reasons. Maybe having children shouldn’t be S Hod given opportunity for so many who neglect and abuse their children, or don’t have the financial means to bring children into the world but expect other people to pay for their kids from the taxes taken from their wages!
Society has been spiralling into a state of decay for decades.
Perhaps communities should step up. Maybe people should volunteer and help more in making society better.
It’s concerning that a doctor is giving incorrect info about HIV and Hep B risks from needle stick injuries. It is Hep C that presents a risk. Thankfully correct info is given later in the article by NAT.
We can blame the B&H Hove Council for axing jobs in Parks & Gardens which means there are no longer the staff in our parks that would litter pick and remove the needles and inform police that there is a problem in the area, the staff were not there just to tend flowers. This an inevitable consequence of B&H Council cutting front line staff, the staff who provide a proper service that the public need, yet B&H Council are prepared to pay a private for profit company who would take staff sick calls because they haven’t trained their own managers to do the job properly, this is using B&H tax payers money irresponsibly and we should all be asking the Council what the hell they’re playing at!