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[CASE STUDY] Royal Devon University Healthcare Returns to Daniels
Introduction to our customer
The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was established in April 2022, bringing together the expertise of both the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust.
Both Trusts have brought an impressive legacy of research, development and innovation alongside a passionate set of teams dedicated to delivering outstanding results.
The new Trust has two acute and 20 community hospitals, including NHS Nightingale Exeter, and cares for a population of almost one million. It has nearly 17,000 staff, who work together to deliver core services to the local communities and specialist services across the whole of the peninsula.
Combining its services means that it can continue to be resilient, sustainable and efficient at delivering high-quality care to the people of Devon both now and in the future.
The Trust is fully committed to the NHS goal of reaching Net Zero by 2040, and both clinical and non-clinical staff have already made an amazing contribution to saving carbon and putting improvements into practice through its ‘Green Plan’.
Their challenge
The Trust used to be a Daniels Healthcare customer and had moved to another sharps container provider a few years ago. However what they found out, through experience with the new provider, was that there were no obvious benefits.
The main issue was with sharps lids not closing effectively.
“The design of the lid was massively wasteful and didn’t give us maximum usable container space. More concerning was that the lid closure was often ineffective which could increase the chance of needle-stick injuries. The safety of our staff and patients is of upmost importance and we always look to minimise risks.”
– Ryan Payne, Waste Manager, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Added to this – was a distinct lack of audit and value-add services which they had come to depend on with their previous relationship with Daniels.
The solution
When Daniels launched its improved and redesigned products with clear sustainability gains, increased useable capacity, and new lid design, the Trust concluded that a transition back to Daniels containers would meet their principles and goals. Ryan Payne shared:
“By choosing Daniels Healthcare, I knew that their focus on providing trust-worthy, sustainable and cost-effective solutions to the healthcare sector, fit with my own and the Trust’s values and standards.”
Ryan was introduced to Mark Brothers, his regional Daniels representative, when he initially joined Trust in September 2021, and he was keen to open the discussion for transitioning back to Daniels. While the pandemic halted the project, Ryan was keen to kick-start the change as soon as possible.
Mark laid out a clear plan and supported Ryan in consulting and communicating with the myriad of departments, clinicians, infection control teams and logistics specialists. Ryan was grateful for the help:
“Mark was great, it was like having another member of staff. I didn’t have to hold his hand; it was clear he was experienced in helping to steer a big ship. He spent a lot of time on-site, answering questions face-to-face, updating training materials, and even fitting brackets and accessories himself to help us out at what has been an extraordinarily busy time for the NHS.”
Daniels is now providing the Trust with the SHARPSGUARD® range of sharps, eco-pharmi, anatomical, and clinical waste containers.
The Trust also benefits from our ‘Combine & Save’ offer which has contributed to the overall cost savings achieved. NHS Supply Chain healthcare professionals can combine and save across our SHARPSGUARD® and WIVA™ containers. The discounts are automatically implemented and the administration is done between Daniels and NHS Supply Chain.
Kevin Cundy
Head of Sales and Marketing for Mauser UK & Ireland. Kevin works with our Trade and National sales teams to bring our containers to the market in these regions. He also works with our marketing team to help develop our customer training and communication materials.
