UHP's Surgery Care Group leading the way with sustainable practices
UHP’s Surgery Care Group is leading the way in embedding sustainable practices into their models of care. Several Green Theatre projects have started across the Trust, all championed by the Deputy Care Group Director for Surgery. We’re proud to showcase their reusable equipment project in this post…
Cardiac, Colorectal and Oesophago-Gastric surgery theatres have all successfully transitioned from disposable kidney dishes, jugs, bowls and gallipots to hard plastic, reusable products which can be cleaned by UHP’s Sterilisation and Disinfectant Unit (SDU). This transition, whilst costing theatres some initial outlay, will save them around £65,000 a year as well as avoiding unnecessary waste. This is a prime example of how sustainability initiatives often go hand-in-hand with cost saving schemes- Indeed, in this case the departments will benefit from these savings for the next 12-14 years! Other theatres including Gynaecology, Neurology and the Freedom Unit have also either adopted this change or are in the process of doing so.
In addition to changing the disposable plastic consumables, one of our Neurosurgery Charge Nurses plans to add further items into the Neurosurgery theatre packs such as needles, swabs and bipolars. These consumables currently arrive in individually packed/wrapped to maintain sterility, but by asking the supplier to add them to the pack and sterilise them before they arrive at UHP, the pack supplier can then buy directly from the manufacturer in bulk without any packaging. As a result of this change, the wasted 2 small wrappers and 4 medium wrappers per pack are avoided. As Neurosurgery theatres currently use an average of 8 packs a day, that’s at least 48 wrappers/packaging saved from being wasted/disposed by the Trust daily. Neurosurgery are now at the supplier confirmation phase of the project as they go about streamlining the packs and asking SDU to purchase the additional re-usable plastic consumables. They are hoping for this to formally change over the late 2nd quarter of 2025, so watch this space!
Have an idea on how we could save waste? Contact us plh-tr.sustainability@nhs.net
