Single-use surgical items make up two thirds of the carbon footprint of the five most common NHS operations, a new study has found.
Researchers observed operations across three sites at University Hospitals Sussex, the NHS trust that runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton.
They saw that 68 per cent of the carbon contributions came from single-use items. These were often plastic items such as gowns and drapes for patients and instrument tables.
Knee replacements had the highest footprint, with 85.5kg CO2e, followed by gall bladder removal with 20.3kg CO2e, carpal tunnel decompression surgery with 12kg CO2e, hernia repair with 11.7kg CO2e and tonsillectomy with 7.5kg CO2e.
CO2e – or carbon dioxide equivalent – is the standard unit for measuring carbon footprints and is used to compare the emissions of various greenhouse gases by converting them into carbon dioxide with the same global warming potential.
The researchers, from Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Warwick University, said that just 23 per cent of items were responsible for more than 80 per cent of the surgeries’ carbon footprint.
They said that the focus should be on finding alternatives for these carbon-heavy items.
The lead researcher Chantelle Rizan, of Brighton and Sussex Medical School, said that immediate changes could reduce the carbon footprint of operations by a third.
These changes included swapping single-use items for reusable ones where better decontamination and waste processing might be possible.
Dr Rizan said: “Mitigating the carbon footprint of products used in resource-intensive areas such as surgical operating rooms will be important in achieving net zero carbon healthcare.
“Strategies should include eliminating or finding low-carbon alternatives for products with the biggest contribution.”
The study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, is the first of its kind to analyse the carbon footprint of surgical items used in common operations.
Healthcare professionals should avoid non-sterile gloves if they could be replaced with hand-washing, not open gauze swab packs unless required and ask suppliers to remove rarely used items from single-use pre-prepared packs, the researchers wrote.
They said that there was no evidence to suggest that reusable surgical textiles are clinically inferior to significantly higher carbon-contributing items like single-use gowns and drapes.
Dr Rizan said: “Eliminating single-use items or switching to reusables where feasible, alongside optimising associated decontamination processes and waste segregation and recycling, could reduce product carbon footprint by one third.
“This model was based on reusable alternatives already on the market and this figure may be surpassed where industry rises to the challenge of sustainable surgical product innovation.”
NHS England has said that it wanted to reduce its carbon footprint to net zero by 2040 on the emissions that it controlled directly, such as energy use, facilities, waste and water.
It also aimed to reduce its carbon footprint to net zero on emissions that it influenced indirectly by 2045, such as construction, catering, shipping, IT and patient and staff travel.
And back to lawsuits when people get infected by dirty instruments. What is the COe of a lawsuit i wonder?
Hence the, immediately stated, need for appropriate decontamination facilities. Maternity is the most expensive legally speaking.
Indeed – hence my “holistic” approach. Using plastic single use items was not arrived at for convenience but difficulty in making these particular items sterile. I recall people becoming infected with HIV and CJD due to sub-optimal cleaning of instruments. My Mother in law spent most of her adult life running autoclaves and building operation kits. But the question still stands – what I wonder is the Co2e of a lawsuit ?
The NHS has bigger problems seriously. NHS England is one big waste of money, staffed by non medic freeloaders.
“Journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”
hubby works for Brighton NHS in admin – he was POSTED a staff survey to his home address… times this by thousands of staff for franking and paper costs, never mind the carbon footprint…