Healthcare Carbon Lab to tackle environmental footprint of healthcare
A new Healthcare Carbon lab will measure waste in hospitals and develop innovative solutions to decarbonise healthcare.
The Healthcare Carbon Lab has received three years of funding by the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS) at the University of Melbourne to measure the environmental footprint of single use medical equipment and carbon emissions produced in the healthcare system. It will also collaborate to develop innovative, sustainable solutions for medical waste and carbon emissions.
Healthcare accounts for 7% of Australia’s carbon footprint and is a huge source of waste. The Healthcare Carbon Lab is a key strategic initiative of the Faculty MDHS’s Advancing Health 2030 strategy, that seeks to address the contribution of healthcare to the climate crisis.
Based at Western Health and seeking to collaborate across the University of Melbourne’s affiliated hospital and healthcare partners and communities, the Healthcare Carbon lab will drive change through workforce engagement, research and innovation.
The lab, spearheaded by Associate Professor Forbes McGain, anaesthetist and intensive care physician Western Health and Associate Dean, Healthcare Sustainability in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and led by Dr Scott McAlister, an experienced life cycle assessment practitioner and researcher at Western Health and the University of Melbourne, will work with staff on the ground in Victorian hospitals to measuring footprints of all areas of clinical work to document waste through single use items and equipment and energy use.
Associate Professor McGain has over 15 years of experience leading sustainable healthcare in the Intensive Care Unit.
“Healthcare sustainability is gaining momentum. As healthcare professionals we are called to ‘do no harm’. For me, this also includes the planet,” said Dr McGain, Associate Dean, Healthcare Sustainability, University of Melbourne.
“We need to understand the problem by measuring the equipment, single use items and general ‘stuff’ we use each day, so that we can work on solutions to reduce waste and energy use in our processes. Measuring what we use and emit in hospitals is the first step. Innovating to eliminate, reduce, reuse and recycle are the next steps,” said Dr McGain.
The lab will undertake a significant project to develop a life cycle inventory (LCI) for healthcare equipment, which will allow quick estimation of daily environmental footprints.
“The Healthcare Carbon lab will provide the data needed – measuring what matters - to address the wicked problem we face in terms of waste and carbon emissions. This will then drive innovative solutions, help grow new sustainable industries and create new jobs, preparing us to tackle the environmental and healthcare challenges we face now and into the future.”
“The Healthcare Carbon Lab provides a tremendous opportunity to collect the data and develop the tools to catalyse change within sustainable healthcare system while creating new ways of working that make Australia a world-leader in healthcare sustainability.”
This initiative is backed by multiple studies that show that carbon emissions and waste can safely be reduced in critical care settings whilst continuing to deliver the best quality patient care.
“The physical and mental health and wellbeing of people is intrinsically linked to the health of the planet,” said Dr McGain.
Early trials to test the comfort and safety of resuable gowns and N95 masks have been well-received by hospital staff at Western health.
There are a number of projects already being trialled at Western Health through Engineering Innovation Acceleration Projects with a focus on reusable N95 masks and enhancing infection prevention gowns, with the expectation that further projects will emerge as sustainability activities progress.
“Western Health has a long history of engaging with healthcare sustainability, led by the CEO, the Board, and numerous senior and junior doctors, nurses, and other health staff. Further, particularly with the deep engagement with mechanical and other engineers that I developed during COVID-19 there is much goodwill and interest in engineering/healthcare sustainability,” said Dr Forbes McGain.
The Healthcare Carbon lab ties in with the objectives of the National Health and Climate Strategy announced in December 2023, which seeks to build a climate-resilient health system and to build a sustainable, high quality, net zero health system.