The World Health Organisation has recognised ANMF (Vic Branch) for global best practice for our work on pharmaceutical waste management.
The WHO’s recently published Safe management of pharmaceutical waste from health care facilities: global best practices guide provides a summary of existing, relevant recommendations for the safe management of pharmaceutical waste, and uses case studies to illustrate best practices for managing pharmaceutical waste in a variety of circumstances – including after natural disasters, wars or epidemic disease outbreaks, as well as more everyday situations.
Case study #5 is about the Branch’s advocacy of pharmaceutical waste management.
It highlights our audit of Victoria’s health services which revealed that the 2009 operational guideline on clinical and pharmaceutical waste was not being enforced, educational materials were not being utilised and pharmaceutical waste bins were rarely provided, with waste instead most commonly being put into sharps bins. As the contents of sharps bins are crushed (hammermilled) and chlorinated, this means that pharmaceuticals disposed of in these bins are frequently entering waterways.
The case study notes that ‘it took significant and unrelenting organisational and political advocacy’ to get this problem acknowledged and addressed. It adds:
‘ANMF brought stakeholders together in a public webinar and representative departments of the regulator – the Environment Protection Authority Victoria – met to discuss the problematic situation of pharmaceutical waste. Based on the information provided and the ensuing discussion, in 2024, the regulator issued correspondence to health service providers in Victoria, reminding them of the law and their obligations. Hospitals were notified about inspection campaigns that would result in compliance advice or remedial notices in the event of breaches. Hospitals were assessed on:
- the adequacy of pharmaceutical waste bins and systems in place for lawful disposal;
- training records to determine whether appropriate training for medical waste disposal had been conducted; and
- waste records to determine whether systems and processes were enabling lawful disposal of medical waste – including pharmaceutical waste.’
Safe management of pharmaceutical waste from health care facilities: global best practices is available now, free of charge. Download it from the WHO’s Institutional Repository for Information Sharing.
