SUSTAINABILITY
Eco-initiatives at Cromwell Hospital start bearing fruit
Sarah Melia, General manager at Bupa Health Services, discusses the steps that the Bupa-owned Cromwell Hospital in London has taken to become more sustainable over the last couple of years.
The health of the planet and the health of people are inextricably linked, with the World Health Organization declaring climate change the biggest health threat to humanity. There have been many studies to back this up, particularly around pollution, and how it increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, respiratory problems, and dementia. At Bupa, we view the planet as our biggest patient. We know that if we help to boost the health of the planet, it will also boost the health of our people. This is why we changed our purpose to help people live longer, healthier, happier lives and make a better world. The healthcare sector generates 4-5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is a huge amount, and we wanted to help reduce this. We started by looking at Cromwell Hospital in Kensington, and identified numerous changes we could make to help it become more sustainable. Cromwell Hospital was built in 1981, and is an internationally renowned 120- bed private hospital. The hospital covers over 70 specialties, and is recognised as a centre of excellence for oncology, cardiology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, lung, complex surgery, and medicine.
Partnering with eco start-ups We launched our Bupa eco-Disruptive programme in 2021, where our people partner with eco-startups to deliver pioneering innovative solutions to tackle climate change within the healthcare industry. We’ve met some incredible eco- startups through the programme, and have looked at where we can integrate them into our operations to take steps towards our Net Zero targets. In 2021, we met Upcycled Medical
through eco-Disruptive. The company makes uniforms from recycled marine litter waste plastics. Each year, 14 million tonnes of plastic waste is dumped in our oceans, destroying marine life by causing physical suffocation, as well as leaching chemicals and colouring agents. When it breaks down into microplastics, it
34 Health Estate Journal March 2024
Cromwell Hospital was built in Kensington in 1981, and is an internationally renowned 120-bed private hospital. Covering over 70 specialties, it is recognised as a centre of excellence for oncology, cardiology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, lung, complex surgery, and medicine.
causes devastating effects on reefs, water temperatures, and the lifecycles of aquatic animals.
All our clinical and housekeeping teams
now wear uniforms made by Upcycled Medical, which are made from 35% organic cotton and 65% polyester – which is created using 65% recycled plastic, 25% of which is from the ocean. We’re now looking into how we continue to work with Upcycled Medical for our patient gowns, and have already introduced gowns for bariatric patients made from pulp fabric – which is known as Lyocell – and is a plant- based fibre used for clothing. In 2022 we met SageTech Medical
who created the innovative SID-Dock system, which captures and recycles waste anaesthetic gases, preventing them from polluting the atmosphere. We’ve just signed a five-year contract with the company, which means that it will be providing 10 of its SID-Dock devices into theatres at Cromwell Hospital. It is estimated that without the device, over 160 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (t/CO2
e) would be produced
each year across the hospital’s operating theatres, which is the same as driving 720,000 miles in a petrol car. Anaesthetic gases are vital for putting patients to sleep
for operations, but they cause significant harm to the environment, with 95% being released to the atmosphere unused as waste gas.
Reducing single-use plastics Outside of eco-Disruptive, we’ve looked at other steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint. In the Anaesthetics Department, we have introduced reusable drug trays which are used to prepare medicine. We were using single-use plastic trays before, which are not suitable for recycling, and instead were disposed of in clinical waste and incinerated. Over the course of one year, we order over 9,000 trays, meaning over 9,000 are sent for incineration. The new reusable trays are cleaned with disinfectant wipes and are also suitable for autoclaving, a sterilisation method that uses high-pressure steam. This change is saving the hospital £4,000 each year. We were also using over 1,900 single use laryngoscope handles over a year, similar to the trays, which ultimately end up being incinerated with the lithium batteries that are inside them. Replacing these with reusable laryngoscope handles prevents waste, and is a further cost saving for the hospital. By preventing the incineration of
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