A safe means for disposal and storage of clinical waste can prevent significant risks to the health and safety of staff, guests and the public and also protects the environment.
Clinical waste can pose potentially significant risks to Leuchie House. As a waste producer Leuchie House is bound by a ‘Duty of Care’ and has a legal responsibility to ensure that waste is disposed of properly.
Proper waste disposal has a two-fold benefit as it ensures a reduction of disposal costs as well as fulfils statutory obligations for segregating waste streams and keeping clinical waste separate to general domestic waste.
At Leuchie House Initial Medical is the external contractor, who has the appropriate licences to deal with the final transportation and disposal of clinical waste.
Waste regulation requires the classification of health care waste, produced as a consequence of health care activities in hospital and community settings, on the basis of its hazardous characteristics and point of production. There are two types of healthcare waste – hazardous and non-hazardous.
Hazardous waste includes – infectious waste, sharps, healthcare chemicals and x-ray photo chemicals.
Non-hazardous waste includes – sanitary waste, nappies, domestic waste and food waste.
The Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005 place a duty on waste producers to segregate hazardous and non-hazardous waste at source.
Clinical waste definitions – Clinical waste is divided into two categories of material
- Waste that poses a risk of infection
- Medicinal waste
Infectious waste is defined as waste that poses a known or potential risk of infection. Even minor infections are included in the definition of infectious. All health care waste whether produced in a hospital or community setting is assumed to be infectious waste.
Medicinal waste includes expired, unused, spilt and contaminated pharmaceutical products, drugs and vaccines that need to be disposed of appropriately. Only cytotoxic and cytostatic medicines are classed as hazardous waste and must be segregated from other medicines.
Waste Segregation
Segregating waste at the point of production is critical to the safe management of health care waste. For segregation to work effectively the Safe Management of Care waste advises that staff must be provided with colour coded and labelled waste receptacles. These should be located as close to the point of production as possible and replaced when three quarters full.
At Leuchie yellow bins with orange bags are provided for the disposal of infectious waste (this includes pads, wipes, gloves, catheter bags, dressings etc). Each guest has a yellow bin by the side of their bed and there is also a yellow bin located in each bathroom. When the yellow bin is three quarters full or when it is due for its daily empty then this bag is to be placed the yellow wheelie bin in the sluice once a postcode sticker has been applied. Yellow wheelie bins are located on each floor. Yellow wheelie bins will then be emptied by a member of the facilities team to the outside area where it is collected on a weekly basis by Initial Medical. For the Lower ground floor – when the bin is full and ready for disposal the staff member is to remove it to the outside bin as there is no wheelie bin on this level.
White or black bins in guest bedrooms are for normal household waste. These along with all other bins in the house will be emptied by a member of the housekeeping staff to the green bins outside. These bins are emptied by the local council on a weekly basis.
Sharps bins are emptied by Initial Medical. If a guest requires a sharps bin in their bedroom, then this will be provided by an RN. Once sharp bins are full then please give it to the Facilities Supervisor who will organise for these to be collected.