Body parts scandal: firm stripped of NHS contracts

Full story in The Guardian, 9 October 2018

Healthcare Environment Services (HES) has been stripped of NHS contracts after hundreds of tonnes of waste from hospitals, including human body parts, were allowed to pile up at its facilities, the health minister has announced.

In a statement to parliament, Stephen Barclay said the watchdog NHS Improvement (NHSI) concluded that HES “had failed to demonstrate that they were operating within their contractual limits. Consequently, 15 NHS Trusts served termination notices to HES formally to terminate their contracts at 4pm on Sunday,” he said.

New arrangements have been made with the outsourcing firm Mitie to “step in and replace this service” and “NHS services continue to operate as normal”, Barclay told MPs.