Sustainability
Lucy Swift explains how therapists at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital have been exploring how best to contribute to the NHS net zero plan and the exciting breakthroughs they ’ ve had in changing systems and reducing their carbon footprint .
Sustainability
Feature
Reducing single use bathing and toileting equipment
Lucy Swift explains how therapists at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital have been exploring how best to contribute to the NHS net zero plan and the exciting breakthroughs they ’ ve had in changing systems and reducing their carbon footprint .
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n 1 July 2022 , the NHS became the first health system to embed net zero into legislation , through the Health and Care Act 2022 . This places duties on NHS England , and all trusts , foundation trusts , and integrated care boards to contribute towards statutory emissions and environmental targets .
The Act requires commissioners and providers of NHS services specifically to address the net zero emissions targets . It also covers measures to adapt to any current or predicted impacts of climate change identified within the 2008 Climate Change Act .
Every NHS trust in England now has a Green Plan in place , which sets out their aims , objectives and delivery plans for carbon reduction bit . ly / 3PcitZ0 .
The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital ( RNOH ) is a specialist hospital located in the London Borough of Harrow . It is the largest orthopaedic hospital in the UK , and is ranked in the top 10 orthopaedic centres across the world .
The RNOH treats and supports patients with some of the most complex and chronic musculoskeletal conditions , as well as carrying out vital research and development into future treatments and assistive technologies . It has a large therapies department , including approximately 34 occupational therapists .
As a therapy department , we have started to explore how we can contribute to the NHS net zero plan . It started with a conversation I had with a colleague last year . We had newly appointed ourselves ‘ Green Champions ’ for the therapies department , mainly because we could see a need and nobody else was doing it .
The big issues
The first issue we wanted to tackle was the expensive ordering and supply of single use bathing and toileting equipment for postoperative patients . The majority of this supply is for short-term use after elective surgery , after which it is disposed of , if not recycled , and may end up in landfill .
The trust spent approximately £ 18,000 in 2022 on bathing and toileting equipment alone .
Another concern is that hospital transport will not take large items of equipment and it sometimes has to be sent in a taxi , which again has an environmental impact and added costs to the trust .
As we are also about to increase our surgical capacity with the new theatres project , more equipment will continue to be required . The effort of recycling on a wider level will be considerably reduced if we consider a sustainable costeffective long-term solution .
As a national hospital taking patients from all over the UK , we have to liaise with multiple local authorities and community equipment services .
Engagement , barriers and solutions
We came up with several possible solutions . First , we order equipment to be delivered and set up in patients ’ homes prior to their surgery and when they no longer need it , their local community equipment service would then collect , clean and recycle it . There are several services around the country which are already doing this .
Second , we keep our own stock of equipment that we issue and patients bring it back when they have finished with it , for us to clean and reissue ( this was the original system many years ago ).
14 OTnews September 2023