Environmental Sustainability and Surgery
The NHS currently emits over 1/3 of the UK’s public sector emissions and produces 590,000 tonnes of waste. This makes it the largest public sector contributor to climate change in Europe, contributing equal municipal waste to the whole of Luxembourg.
Surgery is the most resource intensive aspect of healthcare, responsible for a large portion of these emissions. A study published by the Lancet estimates that theatres are between three and six times more energy intensive than equivalently sized other areas of the hospital due to their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning requirements. Furthermore, one operating theatre suite in a UK teaching hospital had a comparable annual carbon footprint to over 2,000 homes.
RCSEd Sustainability Initiatives and Resources
In recognition of the clear and present danger that the climate emergency poses, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has put together a working group of “Sustainability Champions” to devise practical solutions, helping the surgical profession to understand and reduce its environmental impact.
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NetZero Surgery Webinar Series
The NetZero Surgery Webinar Series presents evidence-based solutions to improve the sustainability of healthcare that the audience can apply to their daily surgical practice, patient pathways, anaesthetic selection, and operating theatre departments.
Watch Here
Surgeons' News
The Sustainability Champions group provides regular articles in our Surgeons' News magazine.
Read HereQuick Steps That Can Improve Your Environmental Impact
The College is committed to driving change and has established a team of Sustainability Champions to raise awareness. They have shared 12 ideas for environmentally friendly interventions that can be implemented at home and in the workplace to improve our environmental impact.
Read the 12 Steps to NetZero Surgery
Intercollegiate Green Theatre Checklist
The UK and Ireland surgical colleges have recognised that it is imperative for us to act collectively and urgently to address the climate crisis, particularly as healthcare contributes significantly to global carbon emissions.
Here, we present a compendium of peer-reviewed evidence, guidelines, and policies that inform the interventions included in the Intercollegiate Green Theatre Checklist. This compendium aims to support members of the surgical team in introducing changes in their own operating departments.
Green Theatre Checklist
The checklist is divided into four sections, the first dedicated to anaesthetic care, and the subsequent three looking at preparation for surgery, intra-operative practice and post-operative measures. Download the A4 or A4 Green Theatre Checklist Poster.
View Checklist
Compendium of peer-reviewed evidence, guidelines and policies document
This compendium should support members of the surgical team to introduce changes in their own operating departments. Our recommendations apply the principles of sustainable quality improvement in healthcare, which aim to achieve the “triple bottom line” of environmental, social and economic impacts.
Read Here