Red Cross Volunteers Step in to Help as Thousands are Recalled for Blood Tests

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Volunteers from the Red Cross have stepped in to help as thousands of dental patients are recalled for blood tests.

In Nottinghamshire, around 22,000 patients have been contacted and advised to have blood tests after suspicions were raised about a dentist’s sterilisation procedures. Volunteers from the Red Cross have been manning helplines to handle calls from worried patients and explain what is happening, how blood testing works and why it is important.

The dentist in question has been working in the county for more than 30 years and thousands of people have been contacted. This represents one of the biggest recalls in history. On the first day the helpline was set up, it received in excess of 1,300 calls and people who have received information from NHS England are very worried. The alarm was raised after a whistleblower shared concern about the way the dentist sterilised instruments between patients and after treatment.

Emergency planning officer, Laura Bowen, said that people were obviously very concerned and a large number contacted the helpline to find out more about the situation and ask questions about blood testing.

Some of the volunteers have been working 12-hour shifts in a bid to ensure that as many calls as possible are handled.

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