The Safer Healthcare and Biosafety Network (SHBN) has launched a new campaign titled “Protecting Healthcare Workers: Safer Handling of Hazardous Medicinal Products” to raise awareness of the dangers of occupational exposure to hazardous medicinal products (HMPs), the first of its kind in the UK.
The launch followed oral questions raised in the House of Commons by Luke Akehurst MP on 9th March, who asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: “What steps he is taking to improve the protection of workers against exposure to potentially hazardous medicinal products.”
This marks the first time HMPs and the risks they pose to workers have been formally raised in the House of Commons. Luke Akehurst also asked, “If he will consider developing a clear statutory definition of hazardous medicinal products and subsequently mandate the development, publication and ongoing maintenance of a comprehensive UK list of hazardous medicinal products?”
HMPs are widely used across healthcare, most notably in cancer treatment, but also in the management of conditions such as multiple sclerosis, HIV, psoriasis, and organ transplantation. These medicines include cytotoxic agents, antivirals, monoclonal antibodies, immunosuppressants, hormones, and certain antibiotics.
While lifesaving for patients, many HMPs pose recognised health risks to the healthcare professionals who handle them due to unintentional exposure, including nurses, pharmacists and a large range of ancillary staff involved in their preparation, administration and disposal.
HMPs are classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic (CMR) substances and long-term occupational exposure has been associated with symptoms like headaches, nausea, and respiratory issues, and even more severe health effects like infertility, miscarriage and increased cancer risk.
Luke Akehurst said: "It is my honour to be the first Member of Parliament to formally raise the issue of unintentional occupational exposure to hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) for healthcare workers in the House of Commons. Today across the UK healthcare workers are being exposed to toxic substances, often without knowing it, despite protections existing.
"The important work of the UK Oncology Nursing Society (UKONS), the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) and others has been integral to bringing recognition to this important issue and providing the solutions to protect against it.
"The launch of Safer Healthcare Biosafety Network’s HMP Safety campaign, the UK’s first dedicated campaign focused on preventing occupational exposure to HMPs for all healthcare workers, is an important first step in the right direction. For too long, an invisible injustice has been happening to nurses in my constituency and across the country.
"The risk of exposure to HMPs is detrimental to the lives of those who care for us, and we must ensure that when NHS healthcare workers and private practitioners care for patients, they are not putting their own health on the line."
Dr Paul Grime, Chairman of the Safer Healthcare Biosafety Network (SHBN), added, “The UK is long overdue a coherent national framework for the safe handling of hazardous medicinal products (HMPs). We are proud to launch the UK’s first dedicated campaign focused on protecting healthcare staff from the risks of occupational exposure to HMPs. It is hugely concerning that medicines designed to save patients’ lives can, through insufficient systems and inconsistent safeguards, cause avoidable harm to the professionals who handle them every day.
"Our goal is to ensure there is clear national legislation that defines hazardous medicinal products handling standards to ensure all staff who may be exposed are properly trained and adequately protected. The routine use of closed-system handling, including the use of closed-system-transfer-devices (CSTDs) and systematic exposure monitoring should not be optional. The UK must align with international best practice and ensure that healthcare workers receive the same level of protection as their counterparts in Europe and the United States.”
Louise Church, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Health, Safety and Wellbeing Senior National Officer, commented: “Nursing staff cannot continue to be put at potential risk of hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) exposure while clear definitions and guidance are so lacking. Immediate action is needed, with the UK falling behind EU countries and the USA in providing comprehensive guidance and protections.
"Currently, the absence of a clear definition of what an HMP is and the lack of a full list of HMPs in the UK, combined with limited guidance and inconsistent control measures, means many nursing staff may not even realise they are being exposed to risk. This is an intolerable situation which has led to significant variations in the measures used to protect nursing staff.
"The UK Government, Health and Safety Executive, and employers themselves must take strong preventative action and back this campaign’s call to establish clear national standards aligned with international best practice.”
The SHBN’s HMP Safety Campaign is calling for legislative reform to establish clear national standards aligned with international best practice. Key priorities include:
- Adoption of a statutory definition and national list of hazardous medicinal products
- Mandating the use of closed system drug transfer devices and other engineering controls wherever exposure risk exists
- Routine environmental monitoring and exposure registers
- Reform of the current “as low as reasonably practicable” (ALARP) standard under COSHH to require exposure to be reduced to the lowest possible level
View online here: https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/12746999-59b3-40ad-90d5-25d7d9a095a6
