A VISIT to the doctor ended with a toddler being taken to hospital after he injured himself with a used needle.

Sarah Page, 27, of Darnley Road, Strood, took her son Bronson, who will be two in November, to have his immunisation jab at the Gun Lane Surgery in Strood.

Bronson walked into the doctor’s consultation room with his mother and sat on her lap. Within a few minutes he became fidgety and climbed down from her lap.

He then wandered across the room and picked up a needle from a chair and before his mother could stop him he pushed the needle into his ear.

Sarah said: “It was just lying on a chair. I quickly grabbed him and picked him up and it was then I noticed blood in his ear.

“The doctor told me the needle had been left there from the previous appointment – another baby who was having his jab and had become distressed.

“I was told not to worry because it was a baby’s needle and shouldn’t contain any infections. But that’s not the point. It was a dirty needle and it could have had anything on it. It shouldn’t have been left lying around. It could have gone in his eye or anywhere.”

“We took him straight to casualty and now he has got to have blood tests and a hepatitis B injection.

“It’s bad enough for him to have his baby jabs, without having to have extra injections because of what’s happened.”

A spokesman for Medway Teaching Primary Care Trust said: “On Thursday, September 21, the PCT was informed by a GP surgery of an incident which occurred following a childhood immunisation.

“The PCT would expect all GPs to ensure that they abide by strict guidelines regarding the disposal of needles. The practice is conducting an urgent investigation into the circumstances of this incident and the PCT has offered to assist them in this.

“We sympathise with the patient and family, but would like to emphasise that the risk of any infection or serious after-effects is minimal.”