A SCOTTISH company is at the centre of a criminal probe after stockpiling hundreds of tonnes of human body parts and surgical waste.
Healthcare Environmental Services Ltd (HES), which is based in Lanarkshire and contracted by the NHS to get rid of medical waste, amassed huge amounts of amputated limbs, infectious liquids, refuse linked to cancer treatment and hazardous materials.
Excess waste at the company’s Normanton site in Yorkshire grew to such an extent that it reached 350 tonnes in September – five times more than the firm’s permitted limit.
It was found to be in breach of its permits at five sites in England which deal with clinical waste, and faces operations being halted.
The Scottish Government confirmed HES – which has a number of sites in Scotland – provides “clinical waste disposal services” for NHS Scotland.
Environmental regulators said a criminal investigation has now been launched south of the Border. The firm has blamed widespread problems with incineration capacity.
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NHS England documents leaked to the Health Service Journal said the Environment Agency had served 13 warning notices and two “compliance notices” to the firm for falling foul of rules.
HES was reportedly attempting to export 750 tonnes of waste to Holland.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, above, chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergencies committee last month, where he greenlit enforcement action which “is expected to lead to imminent cessation of waste collection by HES”, the documents said.
Mr Hancock has reportedly set aside £1 million to help 50 NHS trusts across England if contracts collapse on the back of the enforcement action, with waste due to be stored in specialist trailers. It is not known if contingency plans are in place in Scotland.
HES is owned by Scottish businessman Garry Pettigrew, above, from Shotts, Lanarkshire. The company said it had “consistently highlighted” problems with capacity.
It said: “HES has highlighted the reduction in the UK's high-temperature incineration capacity for the last few years.
“This is down to the ageing infrastructure, prolonged breakdowns and the reliance on zero waste to landfill policies, taking up the limited high-temperature incineration capacity in the market.
“Over the last year, this reduced incineration capacity has been evident across all of the industry and has affected all companies.
“HES has been in discussion with the environmental regulators and has consistently highlighted these issues, whilst we have maintained service to all our clients.
"There has been no disruption to our customers' services whilst we have been dealing with this issue.”
Government officials said body parts made up a “very small proportion of clinical waste”, while not all the material stored on the sites was from the NHS.
Where there is “anatomical waste”, officials said they had worked with HES to ensure it is stored in refrigerated units within the facilities.
The UK Government is reviewing how contracts are awarded in the future on the back of the revelations.
It is understood upcoming investigations will examine who knew what and when and who ultimately should take the blame.
Questions will be asked of both the Environment Agency and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), as well as around whether materials including body parts were transferred from sites in England to Scotland in a bid to potentially mitigate the problems elsewhere.
The news will provide a headache for SEPA on the eve of it launching its annual report. It is not known what investigations it has carried out in Scotland.
SEPA has been contacted for comment but has yet to respond.
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The Environment Agency in England said: "We are taking enforcement action against the operator, which includes clearance of the excess waste, and have launched a criminal investigation.
"We are supporting the Government and the NHS to ensure there is no disruption to public services and for alternative plans to be put in place for hospitals affected to dispose of their waste safely."
A UK Government spokesman said: "We are monitoring the situation closely and have made sure that public services – including NHS Trusts – have contingency plans in place.
"There is absolutely no risk to the health of patients or the wider public.
"Our priority is to prevent disruption to the NHS and other vital public services and work is under way to ensure organisations can continue to dispose of their waste safely and efficiently."
Founded more than 20 years ago, HES describes itself as "the largest independent full facilities medical waste management solutions company in the UK" and is said to control around 20 per cent of the healthcare waste disposal market.
It has a turnover of £31 million and operates from 13 sites throughout the UK. Earlier this year, Princess Anne officially opened its new plant in Shotts.
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