NHS Tayside shut gas pipelines at Perth Royal Infirmary in net-zero aim
NHS Tayside has decommissioned all Nitrous Oxide (N2O) cylinders and shut down the pipelines to prevent gas wastage in Perth Royal Infirmary.
As part of the Scottish Government Green Theatres programme, all NHS Boards have been tasked with reducing the impact of the various greenhouse gases, without impacting on clinical need or compromising patient safety.
A national aim of achieving net-zero emissions of anaesthetic gas by 2027 has been set as part of this programme and NHS Tayside aim to achieve this ambition through many initiatives.
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Including the recently completed decommissioning of N2O manifolds and cylinders and shutting down of pipelines to minimise N2O wastage in the Perth hospital, as well as Stracathro Hospital and Ninewells Hospital.
Clinical teams within NHS Tayside have been working in collaboration with colleagues in medical physics, pharmacy and estates to deliver a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across all acute hospital settings.
Nitrous oxide is one of several anaesthetic gases used by NHS Tayside. Rather than making this anaesthetic gases unavailable, they can still be accessed in smaller, portable cylinder form when required for essential clinical use.
Public dental services in Perth and Kinross have also completed the decommissioned of their N2O cylinders. Other public dental services in Tayside are progressing towards decommissioning cylinders and shutting down their pipelines of N2O.
This will result in a future reduction in emissions.
Dr Pavan Bangalore, Consultant Anaesthetist and Clinical Lead for Sustainability and Climate Change said, "This is a great step forward in reducing the carbon footprint of NHS Tayside. This is another great example of collaborative working across services to deliver projects which have a really positive impact on the environment and for our colleagues."
Nitrous Oxide is a potent greenhouse gas which remains stable in the atmosphere for up to 120 years. It is now the dominant ozone depleting substance globally, with a global warming potential 298 times that of carbon dioxide.
This project follows the earlier successful work around minimising environmental impact of inhalational agents such as Desflurane in Tayside.