Theatres team triumphs in green competition
Thanks to all teams who took part this year.
As we all strive to be more sustainable and efficient, it’s important to look at how we may be able to do things differently. Many are now doing this in their daily lives and the way they run their homes, with local businesses and government organisations also adopting innovative ways to be greener.
At Hampshire Hospitals Trust, staff are constantly analysing how they may be able to do things in greener ways to reduce the trust’s carbon footprint while still delivering exceptional care.
Alex Whitfield, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals Trust said; “Colleagues throughout the trust have incredible insight into how we care for patients and that makes them the best people to constantly challenge how we work, ensuring we’re delivering the best care in the best possible way. They’re able to spot ways that we may be able to do things differently and more efficiently, and how we can reduce our carbon footprint and move to more sustainable ways of working. By supporting frontline teams to change things, we can innovate and improve in specific areas and then spread the ideas across the whole trust.”
To encourage staff to think differently, for the last two years, Hampshire Hospitals Trust, in conjunction with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, has run a green team competition for teams to develop innovative ways for them to cut their carbon emissions, funded by Hampshire Hospitals Charity. The winning team is then awarded a prize to spend on further sustainability initiatives.
The winning team from Nightingale theatres
Winning this year was the team from Nightingale theatres which presented several projects they’d been looking at to help reduce their carbon output and improve efficiencies within the department. These included the delivery of oral paracetamol instead of administering intravenously, optimising the ventilation in theatres, which currently runs for 24 hours a day, and switching disposable equipment for some reusable apparatus. In total, they projected that the proposals they were currently looking at could reduce their carbon waste by over 50,000kg a year and bring a total saving to the trust of over £30,000.
The judges awarded the prize to the theatres team due to their broad range of investigation, looking at several ways they could reduce their carbon emissions and save money while maintaining or improving patient care. They also rewarded their resilience, having taken part last year and not won, but came back fighting with even further investigation into how they could operate in an even greener way.
Sabrina Marsden, fundraising manager for Hampshire Hospitals Charity who attended the awards final, said; “As the charity supporting Hampshire Hospitals, we share the trust and wider NHS’s commitment to reaching net zero by 2040. As part of this, we support the green team competition by providing the funding for the programme and awarding the winning team with the means to be able to make further sustainability improvements, leading to greener outcomes. This investment also often leads to longer terms monetary savings for the trust which can then be invested in other areas.”
Miranda Chubb, sustainability manager for Hampshire Hospitals said; “We’re incredibly grateful to Hampshire Hospitals Charity for supporting this initiative and helping the trust to achieve its green ambitions while also improving patient care. The green team competition helps to deliver the aims of Hampshire Hospitals’ green plan and, as a result, is also likely to indirectly support the financial recovery programme – a real win-win for everyone. Well done to the Nightingale theatres team for their win this year. I can’t wait to see how the charity investment helps them to further drive forward sustainability improvements.”
When combined, the six teams that presented their work this year saved an estimated 108,212kg of CO2 which is equal to an average car driving 318,842 miles.