Turning the clock back

Reading a misprint today, “Hospital Integrated Waste Steam Solutions“, it should have been waste ‘stream’ solutions raised the question why not use the hospital steam supply to process clinical wastes on-site?

All large hospitals produce steam, for heating and sterilisation. Why not use some to treat waste?

It is not unknown for small scale chemical treatment devices to be installed in hospitals and some even have incinerators. In the Pathology laboratories, much laboratory waste is autoclaved but the equipment used is not controlled and validated to the extent that is required for commercial clinical waste processing. Indeed, so uncertain in the processing of these wastes that much autoclaved clinical waste goes straight into yellow sacks for disposal as high risk clinical waste, wasting energy, time, money and resources.

The space devoted to temporary storage of clinical wastes on a large hospital site, including space for vehicle access, is not inconsiderable.  In many cases, this would accommodate a suitable sized dedicated autoclave that might be operated on a contract basis, perhaps by a clinical waste management company in concert with cleaning and support service providers. Integrating clinical waste treatment with ward-side waste management to provide a comprehensive service, perhaps in accord with the major players in support service management, may well be the way forward, providing provision is made for services to outlying and small producers including those in the private sector.

This would provide a professional on-site waste management service, most likely at reduced cost to the producer. Properly validated and operating with all the necessary checks and controls, this is akin to the model recently introduced at the PFI University College London Hospital, though PFI dies suggest excess cost.

But an on-site waste autoclave operating to commercial standards might be a positive development. For smaller hospitals, there might be collection and pick-up of wastes to be transported back to a local hospital-based or Trust-wide facility, reducing transport costs. Blenkharn Environmental took the lead in proposing a PCT-wide plan for managing additionally wastes from ambulances, GPs and community clinics etc, in circumstances where effective transport facilities already exist and areas of operation, on an NHS Trust and PCT are more or less co-terminus. The latest shake-up of the NHS may change that dynamic, but that is no reason to give up.

A more conventional business model for on-site waste treatment may pay dividends for all concerns. Who might be first to turn the clock back and dip a toe into the water of on-site waste processing?

 

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