NHS Forth Valley is strengthening its commitment to sustainable healthcare by rolling out a series of initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions, cutting waste and improving efficiency across local services.

As part of a successful national programme led by Green Healthcare Scotland, which supports NHS organisations to lower their environmental impact while maintaining high standards of patient care, the Orthopaedic team at Forth Valley Royal Hospital is introducing the Lean Surgical Trays initiative. This Scottish Government-funded project will optimise surgical instrument sets by removing unnecessary items, helping to reduce waste, streamline processes and ease pressure on decontamination services without compromising patient safety.

Previous work through the National Green Theatres Programme has already demonstrated that reducing waste and energy use in hospitals can be achieved safely and effectively. NHS Scotland has also led internationally recognised efforts to remove high global warming anaesthetic gases such as desflurane and nitrous oxide from its supply chain. Across Scotland, the programme has identified potential savings of more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, alongside significant financial efficiencies.

Mr Peter Moses, NHS Forth Valley Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and Clinical lead for Sustainable Care, said: “Under the overall National Green Theatres Programme we are undertaking, the Leaning Surgical Trays initiative means we have reduced the number of trays used in some procedures from five to two and a half, resulting in projected savings of £21,000 and a reduction of 1.3 tonnes of CO₂. This work has been recognised as an example of best practice for other NHS Boards to follow.

“Similarly, we have reduced shoulder replacement trays from three to one and cut the number of instruments from 105 to 69. We are currently targeting further improvements in general surgery, ENT and trauma services as part of our wider roll out of the lean surgical trays programme.”

NHS Forth Valley’s Endoscopy team has also been working on a range of green initiatives over the past year to reduce single-use plastics, improve the management of clinical waste and reduce energy consumption associated with endoscopic procedures, which are key drivers of the specialty’s environmental footprint. In addition, the Green Endoscopy Programme aims to evaluate the use of new technology to help make endoscopy procedures more environmentally sustainable.

Green Healthcare Scotland will now apply this approach across the wider health system, with an initial focus on renal and endoscopy services, which are both identified as high impact specialties for environmental improvement.

Head of Climate Change Delivery for the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, David Taggart, said: “Green Healthcare Scotland is about making sustainability part of everyday clinical decision making.

“By treating environmental impact as a core element of quality and value based care, we are supporting teams to deliver excellent patient outcomes while reducing waste, cutting carbon and making better use of public resources.

“By cutting unnecessary waste and energy use, we can support staff, improve efficiency and help NHS Scotland meet its climate commitments.”