Healthcare Environmental Services

(asked on 11th December 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Written Statement of 11 December 2018 on Clinical Waste, Official Report HCWS1168, what assessment he has made of the reasons why clinical waste from NHS trusts was not collected and properly disposed of by Healthcare Environmental Services.


Answered by
Stephen Hammond Portrait
Stephen Hammond
This question was answered on 17th December 2018

The Environment Agency is currently investigating the reasons as to why the clinical waste was over the permitted levels on a number of sites owned by Healthcare Environment Services, and they have launched criminal investigations into permit breaches by Healthcare Environmental Services.

As of 13 December, all the trusts still holding contracts with Healthcare Environment Services have reported that Healthcare Environment Services have failed to meet scheduled waste collections. NHS Improvement sought assurance from Healthcare Environment Services that it has not ceased trading and will continue to provide services. Such assurance has not been forthcoming and contingency arrangements have therefore been put in place for each of the affected trusts.

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