The Operating Theatre Journal - Journal - Page 2
purchase SageTech Medical’s innovative
Benenden Hospital becomes first independent private hospital in the UK to
purchase SageTech Medical’s innovative anaesthetic gas recycling technology
Over a 20-year period (GWP20), volatile anaesthetic gases sevo昀氀urane,
iso昀氀urane and des昀氀urane have an impact of 508, 1401 and 3,714 times
that of carbon dioxide, respectively2. This equates to around 100,000
tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions each year in the
UK alone3,4,5.
SageTech Medical, a UK environmental medical device company, are
thrilled to have sold their waste volatile gas capture technology to
Benenden Hospital ––the 昀椀rst independent private hospital to of昀椀cially
purchase the solution.
Inhalational anaesthetic gases are vital for putting patients to sleep for
operations, but they come with a cost to the environment. Approximately
95% of the anaesthetic gas used during a procedure is released into the
atmosphere as waste1. The waste gases are greenhouse gases and are
highly polluting to the atmosphere.
Preventing the release and environmental pollution caused by these
gases is a priority for Benenden Hospital, in line with their carbon
reduction targets.
Jane Abbott, Director of Benenden Hospital, said: “As part of our
sustainability strategy, we’ve paid particular focus to limiting the
impact our hospital has on the surrounding environment. Working
with a fantastic company such as SageTech to integrate their state-ofthe-art technology underlines our commitment to carbon reduction.
We’re immensely proud to be leading the way for sustainability in UK
independent hospitals.“
Benenden Hospital has become the 昀椀rst independent private hospital
in the UK to buy SageTech Medical’s innovative medical device. The
device, known as the ‘SID-Dock’ captures anaesthetic gases onto two
reusable capture canisters (‘SID-Cans’), preventing them from polluting
the environment. The captured agents are then recovered and recycled,
ready for future reuse.
When implemented across the hospital, SageTech Medical’s volatile
gas capture solution could prevent up to 370 tonnes of CO2e emissions
being released into the atmosphere over the equipment’s lifetime.
Luke Rawlinson, SageTech Medical’s Head of Commercial said: “The
Benenden Hospital team have been great to work with, and have taken
decisive action to reduce pollution from anaesthetic gases with our
capture technology. This supports Benenden Hospital’s strategic goals
on sustainability and we are pleased to have been selected as the
partner of choice.”
The manufacture of virgin anaesthetic agents and their release as
potent greenhouse gases are highly damaging to the environment and
contributes signi昀椀cantly to the carbon footprint of healthcare. During
an operation, only 5% of volatile anaesthetic agents are absorbed and
metabolised by the patient, leaving 95% to be exhaled and released into
the atmosphere as waste.
Once exhaled into the atmosphere, waste volatile anaesthetics stay
around for a long time and subsequently have high global warming
potentials. These gases cause climate change by trapping heat, and
they also contribute to respiratory disease from smog and air pollution.
2
SageTech Medical has developed a safe, sustainable and easy to use
circular economy solution to tackle the problem of pollution from
waste volatile anaesthetic gases. The circular economy solution
captures these waste anaesthetic agents and then recycles them back
into reusable anaesthetic, helping to reduce hospitals’ carbon footprint
and preserve precious raw materials used in virgin anaesthetic agent
manufacture.
The solution works by capturing the waste anaesthetic agent breathed
out by a patient during an operation by safely adsorbing it onto a
specially developed 昀椀lter contained inside a reusable SID-Can capture
canister. Two SID-Can 昀椀lters are housed inside a SID-Dock capture
machine that integrates simply and safely into hospital operating
theatres, without having to make changes to any existing equipment.
When full, the SID-Cans are collected from the hospital and emptied at
regional SID-Hub facilities before being returned to hospitals for reuse.
The recovered waste anaesthetic is then recycled, ready to be used
again by hospitals. The waste volatile anaesthetic can be repeatedly
recycled and reused, therefore reducing the signi昀椀cant burden
associated with virgin drug manufacture and completing the circular
economy solution developed by SageTech Medical.
SageTech Medical’s innovative capture technology will be deployed
across the theatre complex capturing the waste anaesthetic gas
sevo昀氀urane which is the dominant anaesthetic gas in use globally and
has an environmental impact in of 508 times (GWP20) that of carbon
dioxide. This commitment to SageTech Medical’s market leading solution
provides a replicable approach for hospitals to adopt a plug and play
solution to solve the global problem of waste anaesthetic gases.
Simon Brooks, Benenden Hospital’s Anaesthetics and Recovery
Clinical Lead, said: “This leading-edge technology has been integrated
seamlessly into our existing anaesthetic equipment. We’re very grateful
to the wonderful SageTech team for providing us with such an easy-toinstall, sustainable anaesthesia solution.”
Currently, there is an unmet, time critical need to reduce the impact
of waste volatile anaesthetic agents on the atmosphere to protect our
environment for future generations. By preventing these agents from
polluting the atmosphere and reducing the raw material associated with
their virgin manufacture, SageTech Medical are proud to be leading the
way in sustainable anaesthesia and providing hospitals and clinics with
a straightforward solution to enable them to make a real difference to
their carbon footprint and our planet.
References:
1. National Library of Medicine / Environmental and Occupational Considerations of
Anesthesia: A Narrative Review and Update
2. Environ.Sci.Technol. / The Global Warming Potentials for Anesthetic Gas Sevo昀氀urane
Need Signi昀椀cant Corrections
3. The Lancet / Health care’s response to climate change: a carbon footprint assessment of
the NHS in England
4. NHS England / Putting anaesthetic-generated emissions to bed
5. RCoA / Sustainability:
Intravenous and local anaesthetic agents
care’s
THE OPERATING THEATRE JOURNAL
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