A DISABLED grandmother is terrified after being told her healthcare worker has HIV and hepatitis C.

Lewisham Primary Care Trust is contacting more than 12,000 people who were patients of a the NHS worker, but insists the risk of either of these infections spreading to a patient is very small.

But following advice, the trust is recommending a test for hepatitis C and HIV for all patients treated by the worker, who it refuses to name.

Patient Sherry Dance, of Randlesdown Road, Catford, says when she received the letter she was in shock.

The 54-year-old said: “I read the first line of the letter and I threw it on the sofa. I was so scared.

“I want to know what’s going on. It’s terrifying.”

The grandmother-of-19 says she receives treatment for her arthritis in Lewisham.

She said: “All doctors and workers should be screened before being able to treat patients.

“You go there to get better and then this happens.”

The worker’s infections were discovered following a trust investigation last year following media reports about a healthcare worker with HIV.

Lewisham PCT cannot provide any further details of the worker’s identity and will not confirm any connection with Catford dentist Allan Reid, who allegedly failed to tell patients he was HIV positive last April.

To date, there is no evidence to suggest that any individual has suffered ill health as a consequence of the incident.

Consultant in public health medicine for the trust Dr Donal O’Sullivan said: “At NHS Lewisham, we are very much aware of how concerned patients will be at this news.

“There has never been a case of HIV infection in the UK which has occurred because of transmission from a healthcare worker to a patient.”

Since 2005, only healthcare workers new to the NHS and who pose a risk of infection to patients are tested for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV.

The trust says hepatitis C testing of most healthcare workers is unnecessary.

For further information visit lewishampct.nhs.uk or call 0203 0491605.