UK- A gifted nurse died seven years after contracting HIV while taking blood from an infected patient.

Juliet Young, 42, accidentally pricked her thumb when the needle slipped, an inquest heard yesterday.

She was wearing gloves but soon after the accident at Maudsley Mental Health Hospital in South-East London, she was diagnosed with the African strain of HIV.

Miss Young went on to develop Aids and died of pneumonia in January last year.

Her inquest at Southwark heard that the Maudsley was not equipped with a disposable device normally used to treat known HIV sufferers so Miss Young used a different type of needle. She was aware that the patient was HIV positive and went for tests which showed she had contracted HIV.

The Glasgow-born nurse, who studied the cello for three years at the London Guildhall Music School, spent her last days at Trinity Hospice in Clapham.

Her sister Abigail Young, a professional violinist, said: ‘The whole family was with her. She wasn’t coherent but she knew that we were all there.’

Miss Young’s parents John, 74, a church minister, and Muriel, 71, a former school teacher said last night from their home in Dumfriesshire that the inquest had finally given the family some closure. Colleagues at the hospital paid tribute to her.

Sharon Fox, Miss Young’s supervisor, said: “She was a very funny presence on the ward and a stickler for making sure patients got the best possible treatment.”

Her GP, Raja Sinha, said: “She was a model patient, a real angel having all the best qualities of a nurse.’ The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.”

There have been only five reported cases of health care workers accidentally contracting HIV in the UK.