Clinical waste from NHS Scotland to be sent to Wales under new contract

NHS waste disposal in Scotland will now be carried out in Wales after a new contract was awarded in the wake of the scandal involving Lanarkshire-based Healthcare Environmental Services.

The company was stripped of its NHS contracts in Scotland and England in October after clinical waste – including human body parts - was found to be piling up at its facilities. The company then ceased trading in December, leaving staff without their December salaries.

Spanish company Tradebe Healthcare National, which operates in Wrexham in North Wales, will now take on the contract, health secretary Jeane Freeman has confirmed.

In a written response to Conservative MSP Graham Simpson, Freeman said: “I can confirm that Orange bag waste will be treated at Bellshill (when the plant becomes operational) or the Tradebe plant in Wrexham. Yellow bag waste will go to Tradebe in Wrexham.”

Central Scotland MSP Simpson said the long journeys by road rendered government pledges to tackle the climate emergency “a gimmick”.

“People will see this decision and wonder why Scotland under the SNP isn’t capable of disposing of its own medical waste,” he said.

“Instead of making unconvincing statements about saving the planet, the nationalists would be better finding ways to safely dispose of all our clinical waste here, in a way that helps the economy and protects the environment.”

Labour’s shadow health secretary Monica Lennon said: “The health secretary has serious questions to answer over why – months after Healthcare Environmental Services ceased trading – we still do not have clear solutions or answers on what is happening with Scotland’s clinical waste.

“There must be an inquiry into what has gone wrong, and for proper scrutiny to take place over the SNP’s decision to award a £100 million of public funds to another private firm without considering Scottish Labour’s call to bring the service back into the NHS.”