Waste responsibility: or wasted opportunity?

This article will seek to identify, within the generic role of the theatre practitioner (TP), how effective waste management is crucial to patient care. Its place in infection control will also be discussed, along with issues of health and safety in the workplace. The ramifications of waste disposal are managed by legislation and therefore levels of responsibility, within the healthcare setting, will be explored. Potential difficulties arising from discrepancy between policy and practice will be examined, with a rationale presented for the TP's personal responsibility to keep abreast of changes. Finally, conflicting obligations that impinge on the economics of waste management will be adjudged, along with their implications for patient care now and in the future.