STUDENT nurse Sue Davies endured a "nightmare" three months with a fear that she might have contracted HIV, following an incident with a patient on a hospital ward.

Blood from an orthopaedic patient - an intravenous drug user - came into contact with a cut on one of Ms Davies' hands as she attended to him during a first year placement last year at a hospital in Brighton.

But his HIV and hepatitis C status was unknown, and he refused to be tested. So Ms Davies had to undergo blood tests over a three-month period.

She was eventually given the all-clear - and her efforts at describing how the drama affected her have earned praise from the judges of a national nursing award.

"A needle in his arm had come out, so he was bleeding and it was while I was attending to him that his blood got into a cut on my hand. I'd had a plaster on it, but it had come off because of all the hand washing I had to do," she said.

"I had blood tests straightaway, but he refused, as he had a right to do. "I was able to carry on working providing I did not do anything like working in surgery.

"It was a worrying time, that three months seemed like a nightmare, but I was all clear in the end."

During the period of uncertainty she got to know the patient, to learn more about his situation and his point of view.

"He was having a lot of pressure put on him by doctors to get tested. They were looking out for me, which was nice, but he had his rights too. He was a similar age to me and that made it a bit easier in a way.

"I learned a lot about myself in that time, and I just put it all down. My course mentor had nominated me for the award (the Nursing Standard Nurse 2003 Awards), but then forgot to tell me, so I didn't have much time to do the essay."

Twenty-eight-year-old Ms Davies, from Park Avenue, Rogerstone, has since transferred her course to the University of Glamorgan at Swansea.

She is currently on an ear, nose and throat placement at Singleton Hospital.