THOUSANDS of worried women deluged emergency telephone hotlines
yesterday after it was disclosed that a hospital gynaecologist had
contracted the Aids virus.
More than 3500 former patients contacted the All Saints Hospital in
Chatham, Kent, after Saturday's announcement that consultant Terence
Shuttleworth had been diagnosed HIV positive.
A further 80 women turned up at the hospital seeking advice and in 76
cases elected to have blood tests. The first results will be known
today.
At the nearby private Alexandra Hospital, where Mr Shuttleworth did
work for Bupa, trained counsellors offered advice to more than 2500
callers -- more than double the number of patients he actually treated
there.
Medway Health Authority district general manager Ken Hesketh appealed
to women having difficulty in getting through to the 40 lines which had
been set up overnight to be patient.
''There has been a surge of interest at this time. In the early days
we are expecting to have quite a heavy workload in this area,'' he told
a news conference in Gillingham.
A team of more than 60 counsellors, support workers, and doctors were
dealing with calls to All Saints where Mr Shuttleworth worked for more
than a decade.
He is estimated to have seen 17,000 patients at All Saints and been
involved in more than 6000 operations in the 10 years since Aids first
became prevalent in Britain.
The hospital is geared up to carry out up to 160 blood tests a day for
those women deemed to be in need, but the authority's director of public
health, Dr Ann Palmer, emphasised the risk to patients was no more than
''theoretical''.
''There is no evidence that any patient has ever contracted HIV from
an infected doctor or health care worker,'' she said.
The only slight risk was in cases where the doctor had performed
invasive surgery such as Caesarean sections or hysterectomies. In the
majority of normal births there was no risk at all.
Dr Palmer said the authority had no information as to how Mr
Shuttleworth contracted HIV -- although it was highly unlikely that it
was through his work.
He was last on duty at All Saints Hospital on March 2 and shortly
afterwards reported sick.
The Medway Health Authority was contacted by the Department of Health
on Friday and told Mr Shuttleworth, who is in his fifties, was diagnosed
HIV positive and was in hospital in a different area.
Dr Palmer was unable to say whether Mr Shuttleworth had full-blown
Aids and added that there was a possibility he could return to work if
his medical condition permitted, although he would not be involved in
''front-line'' surgery.
She praised Mr Shuttleworth for allowing his name to be released in
connection with the public warning.
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