Carbon-cutting project receives national award
TheSussexOrthopaedicTreatmentCentre(SOTC)atthePrincess Royal Hospital has been named as a joint recipient of the Sustainability Partnership of the Year award for its green studythatcutcarbonfootprint, reduced costs, and saved time for more than 1,000 patients.
The national Sustainability Partnership Awards are dedicated to showcasing the organisations and NHS Trusts that have proven to be striving to implement sustainable change within the healthcare sector and who are truly drivingagreenerfuturefortheNHS.
Last year, the team were granted funding to pioneer the creation of a green digital pathway for elective orthopaedic surgery patients within the SOTC at the Princess Royal .
The pathway for patients who need orthopaedic surgery can typically include frequent hospital visits, long commutes toandfromappointmentsboth before and after surgery and hundreds of pages of patient information.
Professor Benedict Rogers, consultantorthopaedicsurgeon said: “I am delighted to accept this award, which highlights the impact changes in patient pathways can make to the carbon footprint of healthcare.
“The department of orthopaedicsatUHSussexispushing hardtoimprovethesustainability of surgical practice, and this awardisarecognitionoftheimprovement made to date.
"We hope to further reduce the environmental impact of surgery by the ongoing collaboration of local, regional, and national partners and I would liketothankmycolleagueswho continuetocontributesomuch to this work."
As part of UHSussex’s ‘Patient First Planet First’ green agenda, the goal for the Trust was to reduce the need for faceto-face visits from referrals to leaving hospital, to take the patient journey from paper to digital and look at the carbon footprint savings at the end of the six-month project – from start to virtual ward.
Collaborating with Definition Health, which provide preoperative digital solutions to support hospitals to increase capacity whilst reducing their carbon footprint, this sustainable pathway enabled patients to complete most of their surgicalpathwayfromthecomfortof their home.
The study achieved: more than 80 per cent patients satisfied with their experience and expressing how important being at home was to them; reduced unnecessary trips to hospital, with 24,000 miles of travel avoided (6t of CO2); no car park costs and reduced wear and tear on vehicles; reduced nearly 60,000 pages of informationthroughthedigital delivery of patient information; 7.6 tonnes of CO2 saved; and increased clinical capacity by 40 per cent.
Bydigitisingthepatientpathway, patients could complete anddelivertheirinformationto the hospital electronically, patient information was visible to the clinical teams for triage and appointments could be made when appropriate, as well as follow-up care through the virtual recovery ward.
Dr Rosie Scott, co-founder of Definition Health said: “As co-founder,I'mproudtoaccept the NHS award for Sustainability Partnership of the Year, in collaboration with our valued partnersatUniversityHospitals Sussex. Thisawardrecognises and highlights the outstanding work of both the teams at Definition Health and University Hospitals Sussex, demonstrating our shared commitment to advancingsustainabilitywithin the NHS.”