THE NHS contractor that stockpiled tonnes of hospital waste is considering legal action after being stripped of health contracts.

North Lanarkshire firm Healthcare Environmental Services Ltd (HES) lost 15 deals in England after it emerged that hundreds of tonnes of sensitive and toxic material had not been incinerated.

The matter relates to an HES site in Normanton and a criminal investigation is under way.

Yesterday UK Government Health Minister Stephen Barclay confirmed HES had been replaced by rival Mitie amid serious concerns about its operations.

However, no HES contracts with NHS Scotland are affected.

Responding to Barclay’s announcement, HES – which is owned by Garry and Alison Pettigrew – claimed the terminations would “aggravate” the UK’s “medical waste backlog”.

Garry said: “Our plants around the UK are continuing to store and process medical waste safely and securely to clear any backlog.

“As we have stressed since the outset, there is a proven lack of incineration capacity within the UK, which is affecting all operators.

“The decision of 15 NHS Trusts to serve us termination notices is excessive and counter-productive and will only cause further issues. We are currently discussing next steps with our legal advisers.”

He went on: “What we have been asking for since January this year is a dispensation to continue the safe storage of medical waste above the agreed limit to enable us to safely dispose of this as quickly as possible.

“We have more than enough capacity to do this and, as the UK Government and the Environment Agency have already noted, there is no risk to public health, as all waste is contained and processed within licensed facilities.

“The irony is that today’s decision means that other operators will be given relaxed dispensations to dispose of hazardous waste and that hospitals will also be forced to store waste on site, potentially risking public health.”

The government first learned of concerns over HES in July after the Environment Agency rang the alarm over clinical waste collection and disposal, with “too much waste” being held in storage and treatment sites.

Making his announcement, Barclay said: “We are ensuring that there are contingency plans in place in case of any disruption, and that there is absolutely no risk to the health of patients or the wider public.”

He stated: “While the waste was stored securely, it was not being processed and disposed of within the correct regulatory timescales.

“At no point has there been an impact on public health or any delay to the ability of the NHS to carry out operations.”

HES said the storage issue was caused by a “lack of available high temperature incineration capacity over a number of months”, adding that it had informed the Environment Agency when the permitted tonnage level had been breached.

It insisted backlogs at four of seven plants would have been cleared by the end of the year.

Garry said the livelihoods of his staff “are being put at risk” by the decision.