May 12 2005
Inspectors have found that in a third of NHS hospitals, clinical waste was not being stored safely out of patients' reach, and hospitals are putting patients' lives at risk by not getting rid of clinical waste properly.
According to spending watchdog Audit Scotland, hospitals are squandering more than £1m a year by mismanaging waste disposal.
As a result of the findings Health Minister Andy Kerr is to tell health boards to improve performances.
Research was carried out in 53 hospitals, from Dumfries and Galloway to Ninewells in Dundee and more than a third were storing rubbish in places such as public areas or in unlocked bins.
The auditors defined clinical waste as including infectious and potentially infectious material such as blood contaminated items, human tissue and used syringes.
A call for NHS boards to tighten up procedures to safeguard both the public and staff, has been made by spokeswoman Caroline Gardner.
The analysts also found that hospitals were accruing unnecessary costs of £1.3m for failing to separate domestic and clinical waste effectively.
They say the report clearly indicates that the executive is failing to tackle health and safety in Scottish hospitals.
Kerr said it is completely unacceptable for clinical waste to be in rooms where the public had access, he also said a change of contractor since the study was completed had "largely" addressed the problem, but it was not good enough that some NHS boards have failed to tackle relatively straightforward waste management issues which must be accorded a high priority by NHS managers.
Scottish National Party health spokeswoman Shona Robison agrees and says that given public concern over infection levels and the rise of MRSA and hepatitis B in the UK, the report clearly indicates that the executive is failing to tackle health and safety.