How sharp are we on safety?

Paul Lindsell, managing director, MindMetre Research, warns that continued non-compliance with the EU Sharps Directive is putting staff at risk and is a false economy.

As the managing director of a research organisation that has been tracking a number of key healthcare issues for many years, it never fails to astonish me how legal requirements are frequently ignored by a section of the body of healthcare institutions. One good example is the level of implementation that has followed the enactment of the EU Sharps Directive and its subsequent transposition into local law. One would have thought that, given the wellpublicised problems that have beset a number of acute institutions in recent years, a law so clearly aimed at protecting the interests of this country’s dedicated healthcare professionals would have been eagerly embraced by all. Yet this is not the case. 

It would appear that a proportion of our acute institutions have simply decided – in large part – not to comply. Quite apart from the fact that this is failing to comply with the law, the widely reported difficulties that Trusts face in recruiting and retaining care professionals and certain sorts of clinician would surely suggest that non-compliance is truly a false economy. The proportion of overall costs required to upgrade to safety devices – setting aside the moral issue – is surely insignificant compared to the reputational damage which may affect staff morale, recruitment and retention.