THOSE pesky viruses. Not only are they causing snotty noses everywhere but now they could be let loose from hospitals to perpetuate terror.

Security in hospitals is too lax to prevent the bugs being snatched from their fridges by terrorists who may work in the NHS, reports Health Service Journal (July 12). The terror threat is not being taken seriously enough, says an unnamed NHS security management specialist, who works in a London hospital. As a result, in many members of staff can gain access to unauthorised areas with relative ease. Thefts of substances could go unnoticed for days.

“Most hospitals give staff cards that let them into certain areas, but it’s easy to lend someone your pass. That could give them access to X-ray machines, isotopes, chemicals and disease slides,” he says. “It could be days before anyone realised a virus is missing.”

Although some hospitals invest in biometric technology that might catch would-be terrorists, it is expensive. He says the “official view” is that the threat to hospitals is “fairly low”, but admits “we’re just as vulnerable as any nightclub”.

Meanwhile, after NHS staff were connected with attempted terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown ordered the new Security Minister, Sir Alan West, to review recruitment checks on overseas staff working in the NHS.

Pulse (July 12) reports that the British Medical Association (BMA) is concerned that the NHS recruitment process could be thrown into chaos.

“Bearing in mind the Home Office’s recent bungling track record, it’s easy to see how this could turn into a bureaucratic nightmare,” says a senior figure from the BMA. “We must remember that overseas doctors have been a vital factor in the successful running of the NHS.”

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