It is the second time Monklands has been warned over how it handles sharps, following an inspection in January last year.

And it comes less than two months after an inspection of Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride, in which inspectors also found stained mattresses and problems with the way sharps were handled.

The HEI issued five requirements as a result of the latest inspection of Monklands. The first two called for an effective mattress audit system and the implementation of standard precautions in handling sharps. The others relate to infection control. The report found that, overall, “the hospital was clean and well maintained”.

Of course, clean and well maintained does not go hand-in-hand with sloppy sharps management, especially when this is more that an isolated incident suggesting systemic failures in sharps safety management.

If I had been inspecting, I would have been demanding data on sharps injuries and reported near misses, including reports from waste management contractors, cleaning companies and laundry services of sharps discarded inappropriately.

Overall, these problems, of inappropriate storage of filled sharps bins that may relate more to shortage of porters that sharps mismanagement are not uncommon and might be seen in many hospitals. Few are really beyond criticism and all can do better. It is, perhaps more appropriate to consider these as a flag for further and more detailed investigation in order to identify those centres at which there are real issues that impact directly on safety.

In such cases, when serious and potentially dangerous performance is observed, the health regulator should liaise with HSE to ensure that where necessary an improvement notice is issued, with prosecution is warranted for the most serious failures.