Posted on 26-January-2017   by Imogen Jones

Who needs the A Team? If you have a problem and no one else can help, maybe you should hire the Daniels Team!

We’re a solution-focussed bunch here at Daniels, so when we heard that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham were having a problem, we worked with them to solve it.

Sharps containers on resuscitation trolleys are to be left empty until the eventuality that the trolley needs to be used, often in a life or death emergency situation.

But the hospital’s resus team had been noticing that some of the sharps containers on the trolleys were being used for general waste due to the areas that the trolleys situated and wanted to do something about it.

The hospital’s Carol Downing explains: “The resuscitation trolleys do not have covers because they need to be easily accessible in an emergency. On a few occasions, we found that the sharps containers on these trolleys contained general rubbish and it is very important that the containers are left empty until they are needed.”

The team had tried to use the transport clips to hold the aperture in place but they found these to be costly to replace as they were discarded each time the resus trolley was being used.

Carol, who is the Resuscitation Service Assistant, then contacted Daniels’ Pete Williamson for advice: “I met Peter four years ago, when I became responsible for the resus trolleys within the resus team”.

Pete picks up the story: “I’ve been working with the hospital for a long time so I knew the

teams well and we often discuss wider challenges within the hospital and with sharps more generally. When I heard about this problem, I knew that the only way to tackle it was with clear signage, so I developed an “Emergency Use Only” card for use on sharps containers on crash trolleys”.

Carol says: “Since we have introduced these cards, we have noticed a significant difference and now the resus officers are requesting them to make sure the trolleys are being used correctly.”

We love it when a plan comes together!

Do you have a story of how of the Daniels Healthcare team (AKA the crack commando unit!) has helped you overcome something in your place of work that you would like to share with us? Get in contact with your area manager or our customer support team if you experiencing a similar situation in your places of work.

If you like to contact our friendly customer support team, call 01865 371 841, email info@daniels.co.uk or message through our Facebook Page private inbox.

Imogen Jones

Imogen is the Product Manager for our SHARPSGUARD® range, and our Marketing Manager for the UK & Ireland.