Summary: There is no fault in the Council’s decision to charge for clinical waste collection.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr C, says the Council introduced charges for clinical waste collection, and now only offers two free collections per year. Mr C says this will encourage people to store sharps boxes for longer than they should, which carries a risk of infection and is a public health concern. Mr C says the Council made its decision without consulting professional experts in the field. Mr C suggests four free collections per year would be acceptable.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered:
• Information provided by Mr C and the Council.
• Documents available on the Council’s website.
• The Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012.
• Responses to a draft of this statement.

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What I found

5. The Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 allows councils to charge for the collection of clinical waste. The Council used to collect clinical waste for free, but in July 2017 decided to provide two free collections per year, and to charge £5 for each additional collection. The Council introduced this system in September 2018.
6. The Council’s Communities, Housing and Environment Committee made the decision after considering information presented by officers. The Council did not seek professional advice; it did not feel there was any reason to do so.
7. Mr C is concerned this system will encourage people to store sharps boxes full of needles for long periods of time or dispose of needles in normal household waste. Mr C says there is an infection risk from storing blood contaminated material for prolonged periods of time.
8. When the Council introduced the new policy, its view was that the sharps boxes are secure and clean and therefore there is no risk of storing them for a period within the resident’s house. The Council said most residents already stored up several boxes to present for collection once or twice per year. The service has been running for decades with most residents only booking one or two collections per year without any concerns over the storage of boxes.
9. The NHS website does not give a recommended timescale for storing a used sharps box in your home. Diabetes UK have a position statement on the safe disposal of sharps used by people with diabetes, but this does not mention a timescale for safe storage. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have guidance called ‘Healthcare- associated infections: prevention and control in the primary and community care’. This says sharps boxes should be disposed of every three months, even if not full. The Council says this guidance is not specific advice for the storage of sharps boxes in a domestic property.
10. The Council’s policy does not prevent residents from disposing of their sharps boxes every three months. If a resident has a medical need, such as an infectious disease, the Council will collect the sharps boxes for free every week. The Council will give special consideration to those that are physically unable to store their sharps boxes or have an exceptionally high number of sharps requiring collection and can use discretion to waive the charge.

Was there fault causing injustice?

11. The Council has not changed its clinical waste collection service, it has only changed the charging policy. The Council followed the correct process to decide to introduce the charge.
12. The Council is entitled to decide to charge for clinical waste collection, in accordance with the law. The Council’s view is that there is no risk to storing sharps boxes in resident’s houses, and that people were already doing this. Mr C disagrees but has provided no supporting evidence.
13. In any event, the Council is not preventing people having their boxes collected more regularly. People can still choose to do so but must pay for the service. The Council has discretion and can consider individual circumstances to decide whether to waive the charge if it considers it necessary and appropriate.
14. There is no evidence to support Mr C’s argument of a risk to public health, or that people are incorrectly disposing of sharps because of the Council’s change to its charging policy.

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Final decision

15. I have completed my investigation on the basis there is no fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman