00:00Well, that's something we don't have a good handle on, Joe,
00:05as there were not good records at the clinic
00:08that were able to identify the exact number of clients
00:12and exact procedures they had.
00:14So that's one of the reasons that we're going out public with the alerts
00:18so that the clients who have been there
00:20can assess whether they had the kinds of procedures that were risky
00:24and, if so, go to their GP for testing.
00:26And is it clients over a particular timeframe
00:29or just anyone who visited this particular clinic?
00:32Again, there's not a lot of certainty we have
00:35when these procedures may have been done in an unsafe way
00:40without proper infection control.
00:42We believe that the clinic was there for about two years,
00:46but there's not good business records or any client records
00:50that really help us to know for sure about the time period at risk.
00:55And can you go into any detail for us at all
00:58on how infection controls were breached?
01:03Yes. Well, there were some devices there that penetrate the skin,
01:07such as used for dermabrasion.
01:10So there's little metal spikes that run across the skin.
01:15They're meant to be just used on one patient and discarded,
01:19but we have found evidence they were used on multiple.
01:23We also found that vials of injectable medication
01:29may have been used on more than one patient and that client,
01:33and that gives the opportunity,
01:36when multiple drawing out of the same vial,
01:39to spread a virus from the bloodstream of one person to another.
01:44Is it shocking for you to hear that this sort of thing is happening?
01:48Yeah, it's very worrying that this kind of procedures
01:53are happening in our community,
01:55and I think the clients don't really understand
01:58what measures should be in place to protect them.
02:01And what should clients of this clinic do now?
02:04Well, if they're a client and they had an injection
02:09or any kind of surgical procedure or an implant,
02:12we're asking them to go to their GP and ask for testing for hepatitis B,
02:17hepatitis C and HIV.
02:20And if they have complaints about any procedures
02:27or any encounters there,
02:29the Healthcare Complaints Commission would like to hear from them.
02:33And if clients want to understand a bit more
02:37and understand if they are at risk of blood-borne viruses,
02:40they're welcome to call the local public health unit
02:43and we can give a letter to take to the GP if that's helpful.
02:46Are you aware of any clients
02:48who have actually picked up infections from this?
02:52Thankfully, there's not been anyone
02:54who's been shown to have these infections.
02:56We're aware of other complications, like acute complications.
03:00These blood-borne viruses are longer-term infections
03:05and they can be silent for many years,
03:07so that's why it's important to get tested.
03:10Even if the initial procedure seemed to go without any trouble,
03:14that doesn't mean that there wasn't a risk of exposure
03:16to blood-borne viruses.
03:18And, yeah, it's always disturbing to hear these kind of cases.
03:21What can clients do to try to minimise the chance
03:25that the clinic they're going to,
03:27if they choose to have these procedures,
03:30is doing the...
03:31..yeah, to ensure that they're getting the right treatment?
03:34Hmm.
03:35Well, any kind of injection needs to be prescribed
03:38by a registered health practitioner
03:42and any procedure with implanting,
03:47any cosmetic procedure,
03:49it should be a registered doctor, a registered nurse
03:52that is doing the work.
03:54So that's the first thing to check
03:56and if there's any suspicion
03:58that the practitioners aren't fully qualified,
04:01then checking in with the Australian Health Practitioner
04:05Regulatory Authority that you can check online
04:07if a person is registered
04:09or, again, contact the Healthcare Complaints Commission
04:12about any concerns that whether a person
04:16that's doing these kind of procedures
04:18is registered and trained to do them.
Comments