Open, temporary closure and permanent closure of small round sharps containers

Colleagues,

We are seeing an increase in the number of incidents of a near miss or actual needle stick injury involving the contents of the small sharps spilling out into the observation pouches and in ambulance grab bags when crews are using the devices.

As a Trust we are swapping over to the same container but with a ‘petals’ containment system under the opening to stop the contents spilling out of the container during normal daily use.

As a reminder, while we are still using up stocks of the containers without this device fitted here is a quick reminder on how to temporarily close and fully close the containers.

- IPC Team

Published 2nd March 2023