Embodiments of the present safety needle assembly include a slidable needleshield. Digital pressure applied to aleaf spring retention latch removes a compressive force from a biasing memberand automatically moves the needle shield from aready-to-use configuration to a protected configuration in which the needleshield covers the sharp needle tip. In the protectedconfiguration the needle shield is prevented from sliding proximally along theneedle a sufficient distance to expose the needle tip.
