SUSTAINABILITY ZOE ALLEN – MARKETING DIRECTOR, DDC DOLPHIN, UK
Sustainable infection control ina COVIDworld
Infection control equipment supplier to the healthcare sector DDC Dolphin explains what the United Kingdom National Health Service’s sustainability drive means for suppliers of infection control and prevention products and services.
NHS Trusts in England have done everything they can to eliminate and minimise the risk of catching COVID-19 in hospital. Yet as COVID-19 cases rose across England – at some stages, doubling every seven days - infection-control systems were under severe pressure. In October 2020, some 17.6 per cent
of COVID-19 infections fitted the NHS England definition of ‘probable HCAIs’ (healthcare-associated infections). That percentage rose to 25 per cent in the north-west England. NHS England based these figures on patients diagnosed more than seven days after admission. Given the continuing concerns
surrounding COVID-19 – and its knock-on impact on ever-lengthening waiting lists – you could be forgiven for thinking that the NHS has left green issues simmering on the energy-efficient back burner. It has not. Quite the contrary - the
pressure is ramping up. Every extreme weather event reminds us that the clock is ticking for planet Earth. Kicking the carbon emissions can down the road and into the rapidly withering long grass has become an exercise in futility. So the NHS remains committed to its ambitious target of becoming the world’s first zero-carbon national health service. The NHS Carbon Footprint Target is net- zero emissions by 2040, with an ambitious 80 per cent reduction by 2028-2032. That is not all. The NHS Carbon
Footprint Plus target cascades the requirement down through the NHS’s vast supply chain. Suppliers must be net zero
by 2045, with an 80 per cent reduction by 2036-2039. The pressure is on for administration and procurement professionals.
Behind the NHS ambitious green targets Around four per cent of all UK greenhouse gas emissions are down to the NHS. True, that barely compares with transport (27 per cent), energy supply (21 per cent) and business (17 per cent). Yet it remains the ‘elephant in the ward’ for healthcare estates officers and facilities managers. These professionals already have
enough to worry about with COVID-19. Dealing with the immediate dangers posed by SARS-CoV-2 has meant some brutally challenging prioritisation and heart-breaking triaging since early 2020. Infection control – always critical – has taken on an even greater urgency in the PPE-shrouded NHS. Yet NHS suppliers account for more of
its overall carbon emissions than its day- to-day healthcare operations do. In theory, the NHS has limited control over its carbon footprint. It can directly influence only 24 per cent of it in terms of fleet and business travel, buildings, anaesthetic gases, prescribed MDIs (metered dose inhalers), waste/water and electricity consumption. Until recently, the NHS had very little
control over its supply chain’s carbon footprint, which accounts for 62 per cent of healthcare-related emissions. Those supplies include medicines (20 per cent), medical equipment (10 per cent), non-
Zoe Allen
Zoe Allen is the marketing director of DDC Dolphin Ltd, a world leader in infection control solutions for the health and social care sectors. Founded in 1991, DDC Dolphin safeguards patients and clinicians from infection by providing a complete sluice/dirty
utility room solution for hospitals and care facilities. The Dorset- based company manufactures, installs, maintains and audits medical pulp macerators, bedpan washer disinfectors, sluice room stainless steel furniture and consumable products. It has
invested in antimicrobial coatings and hands-free technology to drive innovation in the sector.
IFHE DIGEST 2022
Pulpmatic Eco+ medical pulp macerator.
medical equipment (8 per cent) and ‘other’ (24 per cent). Suppliers are expecting the NHS to get much more prescriptive with regard to green compliance. Box-ticking will not suffice. Decarbonising the NHS means less waste: a more efficient use of supplies – and ensuring that suppliers have decarbonised their own processes. Some 145 NHS Trusts have already signed the NHS Plastic Reduction Pledge with one - Yorkshire Ambulance Service - removing 200,000 single-use plastic items from its waste stream, cutting waste by four tonnes in a year and costs by £12,000. Smart infection control solutions suppliers are already ahead of the curve and making progress, ever mindful that 2028 is not far away.
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