There is provided a protected needle assembly. The assembly includes an outerbarrelreceiving a needle therethrough. The assembly includes an inner barrelresiliently biasedto extend about the needle in a protected needle mode. The inner barrel isretractable intothe outer barrel in a first instance to deploy the needle. The assemblyincludes a lockingmechanism actuated upon the inner barrel moving towards the protected needlemode oncemore. The locking mechanism is configured to inhibit further retraction of theinner barrelthereafter.
