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Cairn’s Carbon Reduction Plan shows sharp fall in emissions

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Medical product and service supplier to the NHS and private hospitals, Cairn Technology, has completed its Carbon Reduction Plan for its base year, 2023.

Although 2023 is the first year that the company has actively calculated its carbon emissions, it already has an ethos of trying to minimise its impact on the environment.

This has included suppling reusable surgical instruments that come with a 30-year warranty to superabsorbent theatre mats that can significantly reduce the volume of less absorbent mats going into clinical waste.

2023 saw Cairn Technology also focus on reducing carbon emissions relating to its operations. Whilst it already sources products from Europe to minimise delivery miles travelled, it has significantly reduced carbon emissions in two other key areas:

1. Scope 1 emissions have been slashed by almost 30%

2023 saw Cairn Technology make a 29.9% reduction in carbon emissions from the company cars used by some of its staff, including its consultants who deliver workplace exposure monitoring in hospitals across the UK.

This reduction was achieved by switching to lower carbon emission company cars, such as hybrid or fully electric.

2. Employee commuting emissions have been cut by 45%

Post pandemic, Cairn gave its office staff the choice to work flexibly with a split of home and office-based working.

By implementing this hybrid working structure, we have lowered our scope 3 category 7 employee commuting emissions by 45%.

Carbon emission reduction aims for the future

The company aims to become Net Zero for Scope 1 for the reporting year 2024 through carbon offsetting schemes.

Its longer-term commitment is to achieve Net Zero across all relevant scopes and categories by 2050, at the latest.

Director Peter Binns says: “Cairn Technology began in 1999 as an environmental consultancy that helped companies to reduce their emissions to atmosphere through continuous monitoring and manage the environmental impact of chemical spills. So environmental performance is deeply ingrained in Cairn’s identity.

“Our yearly Carbon Reduction Plans are a useful way to show our NHS and private hospital clients how we are supporting them in their own plans towards Net Zero.”

Read our full 2023 Carbon Reduction Plan

To find out about other ways in which we have reduced our carbon emissions, click here to read our full Carbon Reduction Plan for 2023.

If you would like to see the independent audit of the plan email info@cairntechnology.com for your copy.

 

Recyclable MedTech for Supply Chain Decarbonisation

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Recyclable MedTech presents an important opportunity to tackle greenhouse gas emissions as part of the NHS Net Zero strategy.

As a whole, the supply chain accounts for 62% of the NHS’s carbon emissions, with medical equipment equating to 10% of the total (1).

By avoiding medical products that only allow for a ‘make-use-waste’ linear lifecycle, and opting instead for those that can be recycled at end-of-life, NHS procurement departments can benefit from a circular value system that also assists with supply chain decarbonisation.

Saving Money with Recyclable MedTech

Recyclable medical equipment not only provides value whilst being used, but also minimizes value leakage at the outflow stage.

This is particularly the case where NHS hospitals are remunerated for allowing manufacturers to collect and recycle their products.

Take for example Hupfer’s surgical instrument baskets. These come with an End-of-Life Product Recovery Scheme that allows NHS hospitals to earn rebates, support the circular economy and boost their sustainability performance.

As soon as Hupfer stainless-steel instrument baskets come to the end of their working life, Hupfer deducts their scrap value from the hospital’s new quote and recycles them.

Or if the hospital doesn’t want to order any more new baskets, Hupfer will help the hospital to find a local recycling company to ensure recovery.

To find out more about Hupfer’s recyclable MedTech click here.

Reducing Carbon Emissions with Recyclables

Waste reduction is also a key benefit of products with a ‘use-recycle-reinvest’ purchasing profile.

By repurposing used medical devices through recycling, carbon emissions are reduced as fewer new products need to be manufactured from scratch.

According to ‘Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service’ medical devices represent one of the top areas of opportunity for the NHS to reduce its carbon footprint, along with supply chain, estates and facilities, pharmaceuticals and travel.

With the NHS spending £10 billion a year on medical technology including syringes, surgical instruments and pacemakers, it is clear to see how recycling can provide NHS procurement with a significant reduction in both spend and carbon emissions.

Minimising the need to recycle

It’s also important to minimise the amount of recycling of Medtech products in the first place by investing in the highest quality reusable technology. For example, some reusable surgical instruments may be recyclable, but if they are only warrantied to last for a couple of years that can generate a lot in terms of carbon emissions, compared to an instrument that typically lasts between 30 and 70 years.

At Cairn Technology, we supply Stille handcrafted instruments that deliver this level of longevity. Find out more about how Stille, endeavours to minimize the impact generated by their business on the climate and the environment by clicking here: https://www.stille.se/about-us/quality/environment/

To keep track of how we here at Cairn Technology are helping hospitals to reduce their carbon footprint, as well as reduce our own CO2e emissions, follow our blog here.

References:

  • NHS England, ‘Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ national health service’.

Supporting Sterile Services Departments with quality instruments

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The role of Sterile Service Departments (SSDs) is critical to the smooth running of operating theatres across the UK.

The timely decontamination and turnaround of full sets of instruments that are safe to use and perform to their optimum ability is critical to the smooth running of surgical lists.

But unfortunately, too many SSDs and instrument managers are being hampered by underinvestment in quality instruments, leading to a number of significant issues.

Damaged or missing instruments can cause a range of problems, not just for the sterile services department, but also for surgeons and patients:

  • Surgical procedures can be delayed or cancelled.
  • Hospital stays may be extended, aggravating bed-blocking situations.
  • Interoperative instrument breakage can put patients at risk.
  • Inability to effectively decontaminate instruments risks surgical site infections.

 

A sizeable problem for Sterile Service Departments

An audit carried out by the ABHI on 2020(1) showed that out of 32,000 instruments checked at 48 hospitals, less than 20% were in a good enough condition to be used.

In fact, 31% of the instruments needed to be replaced, 32% needed to be repaired, and 18% had issues with surface finish, including corrosion.

Another report, by Efthymiou and AR Cale(2) in 2022 revealed that surgical equipment failed in 92% of cardiac cases, 80% of which were surgical instruments. The report concluded that there may be as many as 1500 incidents a year of patient harm caused poor quality instruments.

 

Cheap reusable surgical instruments

There are many makes of resusable surgical instruments that are made from high quality stainless steel, are designed for optimum cleaning and come with warranties lasting decades. However, there is no doubt that the cost of investing in these upfront can be significant.

Budgetary pressures can mean that SSDs and instrument managers are forced to order much cheaper instruments. Unfortunately, these often come with only a one- or two-year warranty They are also made with lower quality stainless steel and have a more rudimentary design. This in turn means that decontamination is more difficult and damage more likely.

High quality instruments in contrast are often designed to optimise performance, decontamination and maintenance, even to the extent that their parts can be taken apart during servicing, allowing them to be restored to their original levels of functionality.

 

Carbon Footprint Considerations

Investing in good quality instruments also makes sense for the NHS’s plans to attain Net Zero. The NHS Carbon Footprint Plus considers an expanded scope of emissions, covering the products procured from its 80,000 suppliers. Sourcing cheap disposable or reusable instruments from thousands of miles away is not a sustainable approach for the long term.

Short-lived instruments also lead to more waste, not only in terms of instrument disposal, but also as a result of the increased number of manufacturing processes involved in making them.

Of course, having safe and complete instrument sets can be enhanced through consistent auditing, maintenance and training, but sterile services managers and instrument managers can only do so much with the instruments that they are given.

As the ABHI 2020 audit concluded, “Investment in the replacement of aged surgical instrument inventory should be considered as a priority for NHS spending” and “The procurement of surgical instruments should be based on overall quality and value, with the demonstration of strong ethical and resilient supply chains recognised and rewarded in purchasing decisions.”

In this way, we can support our Sterile Service Departments to help ensure that instrument performance and availability is always optimised.

References: