UHP’s Emergency Department wins prestigious award

After working for almost a year on the actions described in the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Green ED programme, we are super excited to announce that Derriford’s Emergency Department achieved the Bronze award in September of 2024!

One of only five EDs in the country to hold this award, we are tremendously proud of the research and change enacted by our Green ED team. Comprised of many different disciplines such as Consultants, Specialty Doctors, Junior Doctors, Nurses and Sustainability Project Managers, the team has managed to enact a number of green changes including:

-Project around unnecessary cannulation which identified that a third of cannulations in the department are unnecessary

-A new type of blood gas syringe has been introduced into the department which should save around 16.3 tCO2e per year

-A recycling station has been set up to discourage recycling contamination

-Computer screens all had their brightness reduced to 50%

-Patient information was made accessible via QR code rather than via paper

And many more!

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine described our work as an ‘outstanding’ and ‘exemplary submission’ with ‘excellent evidencing, including of challenges and obstacles preventing achievement of specific actions’. The identification of obstacles is almost as valuable as the carbon savings themselves; once we know why certain changes are hard to achieve, we can work with the wider Trust, the Greener NHS team, ad RCEM to break down the barriers and make the department even more environmentally sustainable.

We couldn’t be prouder of our achievement or more grateful to everyone who made it possible! Daisy, our lead for Green ED and Specialist Dr in the department is keen to galvanise the group once more to press on to achieve the Silver award- Watch this space!