Lochaber clinical waste to be shipped to Shetland
Residents of Lerwick in Shetland could find themselves being kept warm this winter thanks to their local incinerator being used to burn bags of clinical waste produced by hospitals, GP practices and dental surgeries in Lochaber.
Healthcare Environmental Services (HES), based in Shotts with 10 regional plants across the UK, confirmed last week that it served its entire 400-strong UK workforce with redundancy notices.
The company lost its contracts with NHS Scotland and 17 NHS trusts in England after it was found to have been storing waste, including human body parts, more than five times the permitted limit.
The NHS Scotland contracts covered every hospital and GP surgery in Scotland, including the Belford Hospital, Fort William. Asked what the consequences were for clinical waste collection from the Belford Hospital and other Lochaber medical centres, an NHS Highland spokesman told the Lochaber Times that part of the health authority’s contingency plan was using a ‘local contractor’ to collect waste from all community hospitals, GP practices, dental surgeries and pharmacists.
Asked how the waste from Lochaber was actually being disposed of, the spokesman said: ‘Pharma and anatomical waste is taken to facilities in the Central Belt and in England, while the clinical waste is taken to Shetland for incineration.’
The Gremista-based Energy Recovery Plant incinerator in Shetland fuels Lerwick’s heating scheme.
He added the Shetland incinerator is an alternative solution which is part of the contingency plans put in place by the Scottish Government until a new national contract comes into force in April.
Previously, during HES operations, all waste from NHS Highland, including Lochaber, went to Shotts for appropriate treatment or disposal or incineration.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has announced it is investigating whether HES was guilty of offences for failing to act on four enforcement notices at its plants in Dundee and Shotts. Environmental agency investigators in England have also launched their own probe into the company, although managing director of HES, Garry Pettigrew, has been adamant the waste was being stored securely and blamed a UK-wide shortage of suitable incinerators combined with more waste being sent for incineration by the NHS.