Following a European public tender procurement process led by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, a five-year integrated clinical waste management contract has been awarded to SRCL Limited that commenced on 1st April 2014.
The scope of this contract is unique because it will see SRCL, a specialist healthcare services organisation, collect, transport and treat clinical waste not only for the Island’s hospital, but also all 24 GP surgeries, 41 community pharmacies, NHS community clinics, and home patients treated by NHS community nurses and self-treated.
The Isle of Wight NHS Trust is the only integrated acute, community, mental health and ambulance health care provider in England. St Mary’s Hospital in Newport is the Trust’s main healthcare hub and it also operates a range of community clinics throughout the island.
Charles Joly, Waste and Environmental Manager for the Isle of Wight NHS Trust said:
“We took the opportunity through this necessary procurement exercise to redesign the service provision in collaboration with our partners in the local healthcare economy. This is proof that by working jointly together, public sector organisations can deliver both service improvements and efficiencies. We are also delighted about the carbon savings the revised arrangements will bring, which will help us meet our sustainability targets.
“We have worked with SRCL for a number of years, and this contract will expand on an already successful partnership. We are looking forward to working together on other identified opportunities for environmental and efficiency benefits, such as improving the Trust waste segregation practices.”
Pete Siviter, District Sales and Marketing Manager at SRCL commented:
“Collecting waste from small producers in the community can be a logistical challenge especially as clinical waste from the island can only be transported to the mainland at night on non-passengers crossings. This is due to restrictions imposed by the ferry operators. The Trust holds a licence from the Environment Agency to operate St Mary’s clinical waste station as a transfer station, and this was the key in bringing an innovative solution to this challenge.
Article continues below this advertisement “By using St Mary’s clinical waste transfer station, SRCL is able to operate a small collection vehicle permanently based on the Island, bringing waste from the community to St Mary’s for bulking. In turn this waste is collected by a heavy goods vehicle, alongside the larger volumes produced by the Hospital. This removes the need for the community vehicle to travel back and forth to the waste’s final destination, and makes most of the extra capacity available on the larger vehicle. As a result significant carbon savings are made and the environmental impacts of the operation are reduced.”
