Expertise and Experience:
I am a microbiologist with an extensive career background in the NHS and university medical schools. A long standing, now full-time, private practice focusses on aspects of infection and its prevention, study of the determinants of and protection against post-surgical sepsis, device-related infections, sharps injury prevention, pharmaceutical microbiolgy, and hospital and community infection control and hygiene.
I am an Adviser to the Healthcare Commission dealing in particular with complaints involving matters of infection and microbiology, and sit of the assessment and accreditation panel of the Royal Institute of Public Health.
I have acted for public- and commercial-sector clients in the UK and elsewhere, as an advisor on aspects of healthcare waste management and waste disposal. Local, regional and central government agencies together with educational, charitable and aid agencies feature among an international client base.
Career:
I have a strong science-based research record in aspects of environmental and healthcare microbiology in excess of 30 years, and a background in NHS and University Medical School laboratory science with more than 30 years post-qualification experience. This includes a broad portfolio of research publications in the medical and scientific literature, as well as teaching and lecturing at home and abroad.
I have particular research interests in hospital and environmental microbiology, healthcare waste management, surgical sepsis and the control of hospital infection, and bio-safety. This practice extends to include aspects of clinical waste management & control, environmental & healthcare microbiology, air quality monitoring & clean room control, hospital, community & environmental infection control and hygiene, safety evaluation, audit and risk assessment.
Blenkharn Environmental builds on this background and experience to provide a comprehensive research driven investigative and consultancy services. This includes environmental & healthcare microbiology services, with particular emphasis on aspects of clinical waste management & control from bedside to end-disposal, including the provision of technical and professional support to the disposal sector in matters of science and policy. Particular interests in biosafety and the use of PPE in the prevention of exposure to biological hazards, and in the prevention of sharps (needlstick) injuries in the healthcare and disposal sectors, and in the community, compliements these research-driven services.
I serve of the editorial board or as a reviewer for a range of medical and scientific journals including The Open Waste Management Journal, Waste Management, The British Journal of Infection Control, Waste Management and Research, The Journal of Hospital Infection, The Journal of Environmental Management, Public Health, The Journal of Public Health (Oxford), Critical Reviews of Environmental Science and Technology, BioMed Central (BMC) Public Health and the International Journal for Quality in Health Care.
I publish widely in the peer-reviewed medical and scientific literature.
On-going research and teaching in microbiology support various aspects of my practice, that includes also case investigations on behalf of the Healthcare Commission as well as similar investigations initiated through the legal sector. This supplements a successful portfolio of generic and contract research, consultancies and legal work in appropriate areas, both at home and abroad.
