Healthcare staff at Wythenshawe Hospital have launched a collaborative research project into how surgical care can be made more environmentally sustainable.

the Greener Operations Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) aims to gather views from patients, carers, healthcare professionals and the public to guide future research areas to make peri-operative practice ’greener’.

Peri-operative practice refers to healthcare before, during and after an operation – including the procedure itself – as well as consultations before an operation, and hospital care afterwards.

The project is jointly led by Wythenshawe Hospital’s Dr Cliff Shelton, Consultant Anaesthetist, and Mr David Jones, Medical Examiner and retired Consultant Surgeon.
“Healthcare itself makes a significant contribution to global warming and pollution, with the NHS alone responsible for almost four per cent of the UK’s carbon footprint. It’s estimated that each operating theatre creates around two tonnes of waste each year, and a single operation can generate greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to driving an average car for 2,000 miles.”

Mr Jones added: “Last year NHS England and NHS Improvement set out a vision for the NHS to become the first national health system in the world to reach ‘carbon net zero’, where emissions are reduced as more sustainable patterns of care are developed and implemented. We hope this project will make a significant contribution to understanding how we can achieve this during and around the time of surgery, while maintaining excellent standards of care.”

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