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Trust in top four for prevention of sharps injuries

Posted: 6 February 2017
Kelly White, Senior Communications Officer

An inspection by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has revealed that we are one of just four trusts out of 40 across the UK to fully comply with sharps regulations. As a result of our high performance in this area the HSE has asked us to take part in its review of the regulations.

A sharps injury is an incident which causes a needle, blade (such as scalpel) or other medical instrument to penetrate the skin. The HSE inspection programme assessed how NHS organisations identify, manage and protect staff from the risks of exposure from blood borne viruses caused by sharps injuries.  

Inspectors observed practices and questioned staff across the organisation. The HSE reported that they didn’t identify any common breaches with sharps legislation.

Health and safety breaches were identified in 90% of the organisations visited, 83% failed to fully comply with the sharps regulations and improvement notices were issued to 45%.

Kevin Howell, Director of Environment, said: “This remarkable achievement is a real testament to our staff working across our three hospital sites. I regularly witness our fantastic staff demonstrating our values - commitment, care and quality - when caring not only for their patients but colleagues as well. I would like to congratulate them on their outstanding efforts.”

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For more information about our hospitals, visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk. You can also join our near 5,551 followers on Twitter (twitter.com/westhertsNHS) or find us on Facebook (facebook.com/westhertsNHS).

  1. For more information, please contact Kelly White, Senior Communications Officer in the Trust’s communications department on telephone: 01923 436 281 or email: info@whht.nhs.uk. Out of hours, please call 07900 228 031.
  2. West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust is a large acute trust serving people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three sites at Watford, St Albans and Hemel Hempstead hospitals and sees about 600,000 patients a year. We are one of the largest employers locally, with around 4,500 staff and volunteers.