M5: Saving the planet
reducing healthcare waste to improve environmental impact
Monday 20 June 2022 | 13:30-16:15
Format: Workshop
Stream: Population and Public Health
Content filters: Recommended for those new to quality improvement
Healthcare systems are the second highest contributor to environmental challenge, but little is known or understood by healthcare’s workforce about how everyday activities impact the environment – or about measures everyone can take to reduce impact.
In this session we will explore the hard facts on waste in healthcare, offering tools and solutions to support practical steps in addressing waste and environmental harm in healthcare settings.
Participants will engage in facilitated discussions, including exploring their own context and leave with new ideas to build the movement towards a cleaner, greener health system, with less waste overall, and better patients/staff experience.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Highlight the link between waste in care design and delivery and poorer experience for staff and patients as well as greater cost, and describe the contribution of healthcare to environmental challenges
- Discuss strategies and approaches to quantify the impact of waste in healthcare as seen through the eyes of organisations, staff and service users
- Identify opportunities that exist right now to make a positive change by minimising the impact of healthcare waste on our environment across a broad range of roles: everyone can make a difference
- Apply tools to assess the impact of healthcare without harm and green planning for organisations
Gill Smith, Kaizen Kata, Northern Ireland and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Faculty; Northern Ireland
James Mountford, Royal Free London NHS FT; England
Susan Hannah, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); Scotland
Maureen Bisognano, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); USA
Elaine Mead, Improvement Care and Compassion; Scotland