Waste management company, Anenta, has been appointed by NHS England and NHS Improvement to oversee and manage the delivery of clinical waste logistics and disposal services to over 700 pharmacies across Hampshire, The Isle of Wight and the Thames Valley.
The appointment takes the total number of pharmacies provided with Anenta’s waste management services in the South East region to in excess of 1,500.
Having saved the authority more than £1.7m over the past 24 months through the implementation of its dedicated, online contract management platform, Vector, Anenta will be deploying its analytics and AI technology to identify waste service efficiencies and savings that can be made on behalf of the 700 recently-onboarded pharmacies.
As part of its service Anenta will ensure that the NHS authority only pays for services used, delivering effective contract management against existing specifications.
It will also ensure that services are correctly specified under future contracts, providing customers with transparency and the ability to pro-actively manage their environmental services.
Utilising its expertise and understanding of the sector, Anenta is able to manage enquiries from both the pharmacies and waste contractors, ensuring consistency of service and enhancement of efficiency, helping to bring about costs savings
Aligned with this approach, Anenta will identify opportunities for adjustments to waste services that could bring about further savings through price negotiations with service providers.
Anenta will be responsible for managing over 1,500 collections of waste generated by the 708 pharmacies, including clinical waste and medicine returns and disposal. This comes on top of the service already provided to 878 other pharmacies across the region.
As part of its role, Anenta will help the pharmacies with complex issues such as navigating ‘pre-acceptance’ audits required by the Environment Agency.
Working with the Environment Agency, Anenta has already streamlined this process, saving pharmacies in the South East Region in excess of 14,000 hours a year.
Anenta also identifies if pharmacies are disposing of retail stock and sharps containers from enhanced services or patient returns correctly. And, if not, corrective advice and guidance is provided. This function alone has saved NHS England £1.2m over 18 months.
Commenting on its appointment, Graham Flynn, managing director of Anenta, said: “Our goal is simple: to put control back into the hands of the customer, providing an easy-to-use system which delivers a clinical waste service that provides best value with the minimum of hassle both for the NHS and the pharmacies themselves.
“By successfully stabilising pricing schedules and constantly optimising service provision so that capacity is used more effectively, our technology is able to return significant savings to the sector.
“We aim to build on the £1.7m already saved in the South East region and look forward to identifying operational waste service provider inefficiencies that will further improve service to our clients.”
“Key to the appointment was the certainty it could provide us with all the necessary assurances required to satisfy the stringent requirements of NHS England and NHS Improvement
Kevin Oliver, commissioning manager for pharmacy and optometry at NHS England and NHS Improvement for the South East Region, adds: “Having successfully managed the Kent, Surrey and Sussex community pharmacy waste contract since October 2018, Anenta has proved it is ideally placed to take on the wider South East region covering Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and the Thames Valley region.
“Key to the appointment was the certainty it could provide us with all the necessary assurances required to satisfy the stringent requirements of NHS England and NHS Improvement.
“Prime among these is the ability to examine, analyse, check and scrutinise every single billable item through Anenta’s computerised software programmes.
“This ensures that irregularities are quickly identified and any overbilling disputed with waste collectors.
“Where incorrect billing does take place, Anenta ensures that credit notes are raised before authorising the invoice for payment.
“Utilising its expertise and understanding of the sector, Anenta is able to manage enquiries from both the pharmacies and waste contractors, ensuring consistency of service and enhancement of efficiency, helping to bring about costs savings.”
Anenta does not provide waste collection services itself, but instead manages the process on behalf of NHS authorities, assisting the waste provider and ensuring value for money.
