Healthcare waste management company Anenta has launched an app that gives care homes the ability to conduct compulsory clinical waste pre-acceptance and duty of care audits without the need for third-party on-site visits.
Designed to provide a Covid-compliant solution that ends the need for on-site reviews by external bodies, the app simplifies audits required by producers of healthcare waste to operate.
Anenta said the app, which can be operated from a desktop and mobile devices, streamlines a process that can take up to six days down to around 40 minutes.
The company said the Anenta audit app, which costs £200 per site, saves between £300 and £800 on physical audits.
It identifies and records details of training undertaken linked to duty of care, keeping a record for compliance purposes.
It also identifies if the correct waste management policies are in place and records details for assessment, including whether hazardous consignment notes are kept for three years – a compliance requirement - and in what format.
In addition, the app enables details of internal waste containers to be recorded, including their location and content, and whether these are correctly labelled.
Images are uploaded as a point of reference using mobile devices, enabling multiple site assessments to be undertaken; colleagues can be emailed with a link to the section of the waste management audit that they need to complete.
Once done, Anenta assesses the audit and provides a report with advisory notes and actions to be taken, such as missing policies, segregation requirements, and areas where action needs to be taken to comply with regulations.
“Understandably, many care home producers of clinical waste are looking to avoid third parties from coming on site during the current pandemic, yet they still have audit responsibilities,” said Anenta managing director Graham Flynn.
“It is for this reason that we have developed the Anenta audit app, allowing healthcare settings to fulfil their duties faster and more cost-effectively than has previously been possible, so that they can continue operating unincumbered,” he added.
