From: Ian blenkharn@ianblenkharn.com
Category: Miscellaneous
Date: 05 Nov 2009
Time: 10:14:49 +0100
Remote Name: 86.166.6.159
There is continuing refusal by many community nurses to manage properly clinical wastes they have generated while treating patients in their own homes. HTM 07-01 is not particularly clear and many are happy to take a liberal interpretation on the grounds that placing small amounts of suitably bagged clinical wastes in the boot of their car risks contamination and unacceptable smells as the transfer these wastes back to base for aggregated collection and disposal.
I think this attitude is both unacceptable and unprofessional. Sine the current alternative is that these wastes enter the domestic refuse stream, it is surprising that HSE and EA haven't risen form their slumbers to sort this out. At last, the Royal College of Nursing is taking a lead with some collected guidance from their own reading of HTM 07-01 and from HSE who have been asked to comment. In the meantime, wastes continue to go to the domestic stream. That is unacceptable and the EA among others should get to grips with this situation and do something constructive before a serious incident occurs.
Alternatively, we could just ignore the problem, as has effectively been the 'official' response some since this problem first surfaced in 2007.