COLCHESTER Hospital has introduced a range of innovative measures to reduce the environmental impact, including stopping the use of highly-polluting greenhouse gas.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust welcomed recyclable trays for medicines and an energy-efficient patient warming system called HotDog, which uses electricity and can be wiped down and reused between patients.
Dr Becca Elson, Centre for Sustainable Healthcare fellow and junior clinical fellow in anaesthetics, has been spearheading the green improvements in operating theatres.
She said: "Desflurane, an anaesthetic gas, is incredibly bad for the environment – it’s a greenhouse gas and is 2540 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
"Removing desflurane from Colchester Hospital has a potential carbon saving of around 140,000kgCO2e per year.
"Instead, we are now using alternatives such as sevoflurane, a significantly greener gas, and intravenous anaesthesia which has a smaller carbon footprint and can also reduce post-op nausea."
"We have also switched to washable drug trays, which can be used hundreds if not thousands, of times rather than cardboard ones that have to be incinerated."
Dr Elson and her colleagues are looking into a variety of other ways to reduce the carbon footprint within the operating teams.
The NHS as a whole commits to be carbon net zero by 2040.
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