Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the report produced by MindMetre Research <i>How Sharp Are We On Safety?</i>, they will take further steps to improve the mandatory compliance with EU Council Directive 2010/32/EU and the Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013.

It is for individual National Health Service provider organisations to ensure that policies, procedures and practices in the affected clinical areas are consistent with current regulations and that requisitions for sharps clearly stipulate the requirement for safer sharps.

We are not aware of any restriction in the availability of products that comply with the Health and Safety (Sharps Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013 for the areas of care as outlined within the ‘How Sharp are we on Safety’ report, published in October 2015.