Kate Woodhead RGN DMS says we have a moral duty to reduce our carbon footprint. The Green Surgery Report by the Royal Colleges has set out the pathway for healthcare, but there are many ways in which we can ensure a circular economy. In this article, she discusses some of the ways this can be achieved.
We all know that, since the announcement by the National Health Service in 2020, that it is the ambition of the service to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2045. It is reported that the NHS generates between 4% and 5% of the country's greenhouse gases and one quarter of all public sector waste. The main contributors of the carbon footprint have been identified as energy use, which accounts for over half of healthcare's footprint and includes on-site consumption by heating, ventilation and environmental control systems, as well as that used by suppliers in the provision of goods and services. The remainder of the footprint is allocated to the healthcare supply chain through production, transport and disposal of goods and services — particularly food and hospital equipment, surgical instruments, chemicals and medical devices.
Therein lies a responsibility on procurement and clinical staff to take note of and try to avoid high emission products, so that we can make progress towards reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and Net Zero. Determining the life cycle of different elements of an environment, function or treatment undertaken in the healthcare sector is an enormous undertaking. However, a life cycle assessment of individual parts of a service is possible and can be quite enlightening.
Reducing the carbon footprint of products used in the operating theatres will play a huge role in the transition to sustainable models of surgical care.1 Surgery uses a large variety of products and medical devices, many of which are single use and disposed of directly after use, such as gloves, drapes, gowns, tubing and many medical devices — some simple, others complex. This creates a great deal of waste and is rarely reviewed by each procedure. Product reuse, if available, ought to be prioritised, so as to get maximum safe use from each product used. It is important that cultural awareness in the NHS is raised so that theatre departments can contribute meaningfully to carbon reduction.
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