The Net Zero Healthcare Mission

How can healthcare achieve net zero? Where do sustainability considerations stand in the long list of priorities for England’s National Health Service? And could your anaesthetic be better for the planet? Dr Cliff Shelton, a consultant and professor in anaesthesia and perioperative medicine in the NHS and at Lancaster University Medical School; and Dr Fanny Burrows, Senior Lead on Net Zero Research and Innovation in the Greener NHS Programme for NHS England (which means more than painting the walls), are two people who can provide the answers to these and many other questions. We learn why the NHS in England has committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2045, what the implications are of this goal, and how patient care will be affected and even improved by the actions necessary to reach it. We look at how research and innovation can help healthcare sustainability, what changes have already been made, how waste can be and has been cut, and why some anaesthetics can be bad for the environment. Cliff and Fanny talk to us about why patients should not feel responsibility for the carbon footprint of their care; how other health services around the world are following the UK’s lead; the realities of net-zero surgery; and attitudes to net zero among NHS staff generally. Plus, Jan relives long-jumping and rollerblading trauma; Cliff tells us about inadvertent stockpiling of laughing gas; and stuffed badgers make a welcome (albeit brief) return. Find out more about NHS England’s approach to net zero here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2022/07/B1728-delivering-a-net-zero-nhs-july-2022.pdf And this is how things look after five years: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/five-years-greener-nhs-progress-forward-look/ This is an explainer on what net zero means for anaesthesia: https://www.bjanaesthesia.org/article/S0007-0912(20)30547-X/fulltext Read Cliff’s work on identifying and mitigating nitrous oxide waste: https://associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ftr/10.1111/anae.16211 And the resultant national consensus: https://rcoa.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2024-07/Consensus%20statement%20on%20removal%20of%20pipeline%20nitrous%20oxide.pdf Net zero versus carbon neutral distinctions are discussed here: https://www.carbonneutral.com/news/carbon-neutral-vs-net-zero Episode Transcript