Optimisation is at the heart of the operation

Darren Jones, MD at carbon and energy management specialist, Low Carbon Europe, takes a detailed look, with the help of a ‘real-life’ case study based on recent experience at London’s Heart Hospital, at operating theatre optimisation and HTM 03-01 audits.

The NHS, and all who work in the service, are, as we all know, under ongoing pressure to perform and report on their achievements within the wider Sustainability Development Strategy in order to reach the carbon reduction targets set for 2020 and beyond. This goal must surely apply to personnel working in operating theatres, as much as it does to the estates and facilities teams operating and maintaining the key building services equipment that keeps hospitals operational day in, day out. However, at Low Carbon Europe (a Worthing-based company that ‘helps organisations reduce their carbon footprint, use less energy, and spend less money’, and whose goal is to help its customers identify ‘real, rather than speculative energy savings’), we would always emphasise that a strong panorganisational focus on carbon reduction need not be just a ‘tick-box exercise’ to meet compliance objectives; there is also the bigger picture to consider. By undertaking assessments such as an operating theatre audit, clinical teams can, we would maintain, develop both a greater understanding around the operational benefits of facilities management, and of how changes in the operation and upgrading of ineffective equipment can have a direct impact on staff, visitor, and service users’ experiences. Sustainability should, we would argue, very much drive the culture and ethos of all healthcare organisations, and, by starting at the ‘coalface’, sustainable practice can be embedded into day-to-day routine.

 ‘What’s in it for us?’