NEEDLE GUARD AND ASSEMBLY

摘要

Needle guards are disclosed for use with needle assemblies comprising a needle hub that joins a flexible trailing tube to a medical needle, the normally open front ends of the guards being closeable after a needle and hub have been pulled therein by the trailing tube. In one example (figure 4c), a guard (10) has a stiff upper sidewall (24a) of an inverted U-shape and a flexible lower sidewall (26b) that fits inside the upper sidewall and is resiliently biased to bring its front end (31) into contact with the front end (30) of upper sidewall (24b) so as to close the front aperture of the guard after the needle assembly (16) has been withdrawn into the guard. The lower sidewall (26b) can be locked or clipped into the upper sidewall (24b) by pressing lower sidewall passed catches (72). In this way, the needle is completely and safely enclosed after use to reduce the danger of needle-stick injury and blood-splash contamination.