News stories

Critical care teams at Heartlands Hospital and Good Hope Hospital are leading the way with a series of practical sustainability initiatives designed to reduce waste, save money and improve quality of care.

The work is being driven by a dedicated sustainability working group, which introduced a pilot ‘green bed space’ in each unit to test new ideas.

Following positive feedback, successful initiatives have now been rolled out to all bed spaces, showing how small changes can make a big difference for patients, colleagues and the environment. 

Some of these initiatives include:

• Gloves off in ITU: Staff are reducing unnecessary disposable glove use where it is not clinically required, helping to cut plastic waste, lower costs and reduce the risk of contact dermatitis

• Smarter medication delivery: Giving propofol, a sedative, via a volumetric giving set rather than drawing medication into a syringe, is helping to save nursing time and reduce plastic use

• To ABG or not ABG: A new flowchart decision tree is supporting nursing staff to decide when an arterial blood gas (ABG) is needed, reducing unnecessary tests, consumable use and avoidable blood-taking from patients

The group is continuing to explore new ideas and embed further quality improvements, with colleagues of all grades encouraged to get involved.