Sharps and Clinical Waste Management in Enfield
Enfield’s roots can be traced back to Roman times, with remnants of a settlement discovered in Bush Hill Park. In 1303, Edward I granted the town the rights to hold a weekly market, which can still be visited today and continues to provide some of the freshest local produce and best arts and crafts from the surrounding areas.
Enfield was a favourite hunting ground for the Royals in the 16th century, thanks to its sprawling woodland and lush oak forests, and in the 17th century played a crucial role in the delivery of clean water to London’s flourishing population. A 40-mile canal was built in Hertfordshire, through Enfield and flowed into the north of London, engineers called it the New River and you can still walk its banks today.
While industry thrived, one of the world’s finest romantics called Enfield home… John Keats was educated at a school where the Enfield Town Station now stands. He stayed there till he was 14, forced to end his education after the tragic deaths of his father and then his mother. However, it wasn’t until the 18th and 19th centuries that the stunning architecture Enfield is still revered for today began construction. The Royal Small Arms Factory was built, gasworks were opened and brickmaking became a booming industry. Continuing into the 20th century Enfield was home to Belling, who created the first infra red fire bar (electric fire), the Halogen Cooker, the first transatlantic calls via digital telephone communications and the diode valve.
Between the great shopping, arts and entertainment, parks, architecture and awesome food culture Enfield is a lively borough, just less than 12 miles from central London that protects its heritage, while planning for its future with great healthcare.
The future of Healthcare Waste in Enfield
It’s been 15 proud years that we have been serving Enfield hospitals in delivering a “new clinical normal” in the management of healthcare waste streams. Underpinned by our vision of creating healthcare waste management solutions that are driven by safety and infection control, Sharpsmart has wowed the world in its clinical and environmental achievements. (you can read about them here!) Partnering at a local level with hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories and private health, Sharpsmart works within the four walls of a facility to drive:
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Improved infectious and offensive waste segregation
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Safety in pharmaceuticals handling and medications disposal
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Elimination of needlestick injuries
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Waste Pickup Service schedules that meet the volume requirements by facility
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Clinically designed education that works!
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Container tracking, audit reporting and metrics that provide cost and compliance visibility
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Reduced surface-touch and cross-contamination through hands-free sharps and clinical waste containers
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A simpler model that eliminates purchase of disposable containers
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Sustainability outcomes (stalk our green awards)
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Reduced costs, reduced waste, reduced risk
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Improved safety and infection control for patients and healthcare workers
Infection-Control focused solutions for infectious and non-infectious waste streams
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sharpsmart were approached by the government and hospitals across the United Kingdom asking for waste containment and service solutions that will deliver heightened protection for frontline staff handling COVID-19 waste and eliminate risk of surface infection transfer in waste handling. With every aspect of the hospital environment suddenly being brought under scrutiny, the pandemic shone a light on the risks associated with unclean containers and surface-touch disease transmission risk in clinical areas.
How do you reduce infection risk in clinical waste disposal?
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Waste containers undergoing routine cleaning after use (when we say cleaning, we mean robotic decontamination and sanitization that exceeds the requirements set out by the CDC)
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In the transit of containers between ward and loading dock, ensuring that containers are not touching the ground and enabling cross-contamination
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In the hygienic disposal of sharps and clinical waste, utilizing hands-free no-touch containers
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Utilising mounting brackets and mobile carts that have non-porous cleanable surfaces
For us, clinical differentiation is our sweet spot – we don’t just provide a container or a waste pickup service, we provide an end-to-end solution that protects healthcare workers and downstream staff.
Cytotoxic waste solutions for Enfield Cancer Centres
While we talk about hospitals a lot, so it may surprise you that Sharpsmart’s expertise in clinical waste management reaches well beyond hospitals. Across the United Kingdom Sharpsmart is proud to partner with many leading cancer centers, supporting not only in cytotoxic waste disposal and collection, but also complimentary waste streams, education and compliance solutions.
Cytotoxic (or cytostatic) waste is waste associated with cytotoxic drugs which contain chemicals that are toxic to the cells. By definition, this can include any materials, PPE, equipment and residue that is contaminated by chemotherapy drugs. Given the toxicity of the waste and its risk to humans and the environment, cytotoxic waste must be handled as its own waste stream (not commingled with clinical waste) with correct precautions taken to surface-touch, manual handling and packaging for transport. As well as offering the safest cytotoxic waste containers in the industry, Sharpsmart’s bag to bedside solution has proven to be an integral part of our successful partnership with cancer centers – training clinical staff to segregate at the point of waste generation, and providing color coded education, bags and containers to support long-term programme success. To learn more about our waste management options available for cancer centers, click here.
Sharpsmart understands the needs of healthcare facilities in Enfield.
Contact us and see how we can help your facility better manage your sharps, clinical and pharmaceutical waste disposal.
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