With waste management very firmly in the spotlight, IHEEM is continuing to inform and update members on the latest legislation with two seminars on the subject being held this month.
The seminars will address issues surrounding the management of waste in healthcare facilities, making sense of the legislation and guidance currently available, and looking at the implications for healthcare estate teams. By attending the seminars, delegates will be able to subsequently implement improvements to procedures and practises that could reduce inefficacies and wastage, and achieve financial savings.
Published in December 2006, HTM 07-01 replaces the Health Services Advisory Committee’s guidance document Safe disposal of clinical waste of 1999. The seminars will study the latest document, which has been produced as a best practice guide to the management of healthcare waste and to help healthcare organisations and other producers meet legislative requirements.
The seminars will also examine the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) published in 2007. This aims to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of WEEE going to landfill. This guidance will have implications for all those involved with estates and facilities management.
These seminars are for all those involved in the management of waste in healthcare facilities. Attendees will be eligible to receive four hours of CPD credits.
Seminar presentations will be as follows:
- NHS: counting the cost of the waste mountain. HTM 07-01 Safe Management of Healthcare Waste. Lorraine Brayford, of the Department of Health Estates and Facilities Division, will introduce HTM 07-01 and highlight how it aims to make sense of legislative compliance and deliver a national approach to waste management that could tip the balance between “wasteful” inefficiency and resource management for financial savings leading to increased investment in patient care services.
- A legal viewpoint to managing healthcare waste. Anne Harrison of Beechcroft will highlight aspects of legislation relating to healthcare waste management and offer an insight into how these can be approached.
- Case Study: Gloucester – Lessons Learnt – Environmental Site Audit. Jen Goode of Gloucester Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will explain how the Trust has implemented a new waste management system, the materials used (posters, stickers etc), the training, who has been trained, the problems encountered during implementation, and the lessons learnt. She will provide advice for other Trusts undertaking a similar project.
- WEEE Regs: their implications for the healthcare estate. Leigh Holloway of Eco3 will examine the WEEE Regulations, which are now fully in force in the UK. Although they bring new responsibilities for producers of electrical and electronic equipment they also give new responsibilities for end-users of such equipment when it comes to disposal. As large users of such equipment, healthcare facility managements need to understand how the WEEE regulations will affect the way they purchase and dispose of electrical and electronic products. The presentation will cut through the legal speak. Myths will be dispelled and misunderstandings cleared up.
- Local implications for health waste management. This presentation will be delivered by a local waste contractor and will give a viewpoint from the local area. The session will examine implications of new guidance for healthcare providers at a local level.
- Re-use – opting out of recycling charges, managing loss. Mike Hilditch, of Hilditch Auctioneers, will speak on the hidden implications of WEEE with regard to increased purchase price of equipment, as manufacturers look to offset their recycling liabilities, and the real cost of recycling against the possible returns of selling redundant equipment.
More information on the seminars is available at the IHEEM website (www.iheem.org.uk/events) or by phoning Louise Corfield on 023 9282 3186.
