Healthcare Auditing & Training

Healthcare facilities produce high volumes and a complex range of wastes from non-hazardous offensive wastes through to infectious and chemically contaminated wastes. Effective segregation, labelling and storage systems are required to ensure compliant and safe management and disposal. Mis-segregation of healthcare wastes is a direct cause of significant uneccesary overspend.

The NHS has a critical role to play in achieving the UK Net Zero ambitions and can contribute significantly by prioritizing efficient, safe, circular and cost-effective waste management practices. HTM 07 01 sets out the following targets:

Healthcare Waste Pre-Acceptance Auditing

Pre-acceptance audits (PAA) are a legal requirement for healthcare facilities on the frequencies specified here.

Permitted disposal sites are required by law to obtain pre-acceptance reports from healthcare waste producers, in order to accept waste from the producer and may discontinue services without it. Evidence of PAA’s may be requested at any time by the Environment Agency.

Having a PAA conducted by an independent specialist ensures impartiality and the comprehensive data and images captured during the audit will ensure all opportunities for improvement (financial, environmental and safety) and any legal non-compliance is highlighted so that the waste producer can work proactively with staff and contractors to achieve best practice.

Audits cover compliance around waste policy, training, segregation, classification, packaging, labelling, storage, movement, transport and disposal and record keeping of waste. This is achieved via comprehensive ward and department visits, waste receptacle/hold/compound checks, and staff conversations.

Benefits & Outcomes of Healthcare Auditing

Healthcare Team Training

HTM 07 01 requires that “specific waste management training should be provided to all employees. Training should be tailored to specific positions, settings and needs where practical. Staff segregating waste must be provided with appropriate training and clear instructions on waste segregation, specifically which items go into which container. All staff should undertake waste awareness training“.

Lack of awareness and training around waste segregation, colour coding, sharps handling for example can lead to poor infection control, a risk to the continuity of disposal routes, a breach of several waste related regulations and a significant and unnecessary overspend for the Trust or facility. Past research projects have shown clearly that periodic training costs are recouped many times over by the improvements made in healthcare waste segregation following training.

For supervisors and managers of frontline teams requiring a more in depth holistic knowledge of waste and resource management (including but not limited to clinical wastes), the Waste Assure (Healthcare) Course will equip any manager or supervisor with the knowledge to robustly manage risk, compliance and embed best environmental practices across the estate or facility. The course contains but goes beyond the CIWMs Waste Smart course, so delegates will receive a CIWM (Chartered Institutes of Waste Management) certificate upon successfully passing a multiple choice test paper, contributing to their Continued Professional Development.

For more information, costings or bespoke training content please complete the contact form or email redintegroenv@gmail.com