The Operating Theatre Journal - Journal - Page 28
Launches NIHR Net Zero
Surgery research programme
The University of Birmingham is preparing for a major conference aimed at reducing the healthcare sector’s
contribution to climate change.
“The NHS aims to be net carbon zero by
2040, but we can’t achieve this without
making surgery greener. Environmentally
friendly healthcare is important to patients
and communities but requires changes in
behaviour and care pathways across complex
teams.”
The conference will connect participants with
ideas, research and innovation in sustainable
surgery will be discussed, with emphasis
on ongoing research projects and training
opportunities.
The event builds on University of Birmingham
experts’ work with a surgical team at University
Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
to complete the 昀椀rst documented ‘net zero’
operation in the NHS.
As a research programme into ‘green surgery’
in the UK NHS launches this autumn, the
University of Birmingham is bringing together
clinicians, policy makers and industry for
a major conference aimed at reducing the
healthcare sector’s contribution to climate
change.
The healthcare sector is major emitter of
carbon – if the global sector were a country,
it would be the world’s 昀椀fth largest polluter,
with the NHS contributing six per cent of
the UK’s total carbon footprint. Operating
theatres make up as much as 25% of hospitals’
contribution, but 3 in every 4 people need
surgery in their lives.
Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scienti昀椀c
Adviser for the Department of Health and
Social Care, will deliver the keynote address
at the one-day event on the University’s UK
campus on 13 December 2023. Other speakers
will be announced closer to the event date.
Tickets for the conference can be booked at
via this Eventbrite page.
UHB Consultant Surgeon and Professor of
Global Surgery at the University of Birmingham
Mr. Aneel Bhangu said: “Operating theatres
are critical to preventing life-limiting disease,
but they represent a hospital’s biggest source
of carbon and waste.
Professor Aneel Bhangu
Professor of Global Surgery
Mr. Bhangu added “We can only achieve our
sustainability goals by working with colleagues
across the UK to create a wider impact across
the whole NHS. This conference will provide a
major step forward in greening surgery across
the UK and making the NHS a global example
of what can be done for environmentally
sustainable healthcare.”
Discovering the the Operating Theatre Journal online @ www.otjonline.com
28
THE OPERATING THEATRE JOURNAL
www.otjonline.com
