Healthcare Environment Services Ltd – a private contractor receiving public funds to dispose of medical waste has been found to be allowing HUMAN WASTE (incl amputated body parts and infectious liquids) to build up at 6 sites in ‘huge stockpiles’.
This shocking revelation raises a number of issues:
Transparency
We only found out this through a LEAKED document.
The government have known about the issue since JULY.
As Jonathan Ashworth points out, why was our parliament, the public and local communities not informed?
Horrific revelations about a private contractor’s failure to dispose of medical waste. The Environment Agency has issued warnings over the last year and last month the Health Secretary convened a COBRA meeting.Yet Parliament was never informed. 50 hospital trusts are affected and given the wider public health implications its shocking the Health Secretary didn’t inform Parliament. We need Commons statement next week explaining what went wrong with this contract given out to the private sector, why it went wrong and what the plan is now going forward.
Posted by Jonathan Ashworth on Friday, 5 October 2018
(It appears duty of candour doesn’t apply to our politicians)
This is another in a long list of examples
Where #NHS services have been outsourced to private companies.
Corners are cut, mistakes made, patient care is compromised and ultimately patients are put at risk.
See
for numerous failures in recent years http://nhsforsale.info/…/what-s-th…/contract-failures-2.html
Accountability
Healthcare environmental services Ltd – has a £31 million turnover -controls 20% of the HC waste market.
Most recent annual accounts saw it record a gross profit of £15.4m – sales growing by 18% year on year.
So a private company, receiving public NHS funds has failed to carry out its role safely and appropriately. Has potentially put the environment and public health at risk.
HES is run by husband and wife Garry and Alison Pettigrew who have paid themselves almost £1m in dividends over the past two years despite the company losing more than £1.7m.
And the government did not feel a duty to inform the public? Will the company face punishment?
Risk to the environment and public health
The government have stated categorically today there is no risk to public health. I find the very dubious, given the ‘pile ups’ included amputated limbs, infectious liquids and cytotoxic waste. At one site the waste was 5x time above the limit.
The scandal was revealed by the Health services journal:
https://www.hsj.co.uk/…/exclusive-trusts-al…/7023511.article
Sonia Adesara
