I am today taking the opportunity to update the House about a
company which provides clinical waste services to NHS Trusts.
This company—Healthcare Environmental Services (HES)—was
subject to previous discussions in Parliament. On 9 October,
the then Minister of State for Health, set out concerns that
a number of waste storage and treatment sites were well over
the permitted levels. This included waste collected from
hospitals and other public services. Although the waste was
stored securely, the Environment Agency was sufficiently
concerned at the activities of this company that they took
regulatory action, including launching a criminal
investigation.
At the start of October, a number of trusts served by HES’
Normanton site, terminated their contracts, and arranged for
Mitie to provide waste collection and incineration services instead.
Until last week, a number of other NHS trusts continued to
receive services from HES. Those organisations, supported by
NHSI and the Department of Health and Social Care, have been
monitoring the situation.
However, HES has now failed to collect waste from 24 further
trusts. NHSI has sought assurance from HES that it has not
ceased trading and is capable of, and will continue to
provide services. Such assurance has not been forthcoming.
Contingency arrangements are in place for each of the
affected trusts. An optional extension in the Mitie contract
has been exercised, which will allow all affected trusts to
access a replacement clinical waste collection service. This
has been communicated to all Trusts and NHSI is working with
affected trusts to mobilise and implement contingency plans.
These robust contingency measures mean there is no gap in
service provision and no health risk to the public.
