NHS deals are stripped from firm in body parts scandal

THE waste disposal firm at the centre of the body parts scandal was yesterday stripped of NHS contracts.

Healthcare Environmental Services failed to incinerate hundreds of tonnes of clinical waste and allowed it to pile up at depots around the country.

Health Minister Steve Barclay has now announced that deals with 17 English hospitals have been axed and given to Mitie, another waste disposal firm.

But HES still has agreements with a number of health trusts in England and all 14 health boards in Scotland. The fate of these contracts has yet to be decided.

Last week the firm based in Lanarkshire, Scotland, admitted it did not have the capacity to meet the demand.

Managing director Gary Pettigrew blamed ageing machinery which kept breaking down and said he had repeatedly warned the Environment Agency.

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Barclay said the firm had failed to show it was acting within its ‘contractual limits’ after being given a 48-hour deadline over the weekend by regulators.

He confirmed 3.5 tonnes of body parts

‘Why was backlog allowed to build up?’

were in the 350 tonnes of medical waste which had accumulated. Other components included unused drugs, syringes and equipment used in surgery.

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the public should have been told about the problem when ministers first became aware in July.

‘Serious questions remain,’ he added. ‘Why was this backlog allowed to build up, why didn’t the NHS intervene earlier?

‘We still don’t have any credible reassurances that contracts will be monitored thoroughly so this never happens again.’

Health Secretary Matt Hancock blamed ‘commercial sensitivities’ for not making an announcement earlier and insisted there had been no risk to the public.

‘My clear goal throughout has been to make sure the public is safe and NHS services continue,’ he said. ‘We have a new company in and that is the point at which we could go public. The waste is now being removed effectively.’

The terminated contracts include those with Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust in East London, Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust in West Yorkshire, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, and the East and North Hertfordshire Trust.