Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Following on from my grumble about ridiculous NHS waste and a call for ideas on how we as an industry can help reduce that waste by supplying products of a consistent quality and price across the NHS, I had a response in the form of a Facebook comment from Scot Young Research which both gladdened and concerned me. It said: "In our experience trusts are aware of the need to reduce waste and are keen to find ways to do this. For instance, we were approached by a trust about developing a more economical and sensible way to distribute antimicrobial bodywash. At least 75% of pre-admission bodywash sent out in bottles is discarded by the patient.
"You can do away with this by packaging it in 25ml sachets. It's now available under the National Framework Agreement. So, in many cases there are simple solutions and it just needs suppliers who are willing to work with them. After all, it is in all our interests to see an NHS with enough money to look after us!"
I'm gladdened that the company has come up with a way to prevent some of the type of waste I was talking about. It shows that working with our customers to give them what they need, rather than simply selling them what we want to, is the best way forward... and save a customer money while ensuring their results are just as good, is likely to lead to recommendations for your company's products and services, isn't it? Everyone wins.
What concerned me about this though is that I hadn't even been aware that the NHS was sending out pre-admission body wash... Am I the only one who thinks that this is another incredible waste of resources, when (surely) we should already have adequate means of cleaning ourselves at home? And however well a 'pre-admission' uses the bodywash, they're going to become contaminated on their way to hospital, aren't they? Particularly if they're taking public transport? And what about the costs of sending the bottles out, in the first place? It really does beggar belief, doesn't it?
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Yours,
13th April 2017