Newcastle hospital cuts 95,000 waste items in greener care drive
A Newcastle emergency department has removed 95,000 single-use items from clinical waste and cut weekly blood collection bottles by 90% as part of a two-year sustainability drive.
The Royal Victoria Infirmary’s emergency department has now received bronze status through the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s GreenED programme. The recognition covers changes to waste reduction, medicines, energy use, staff engagement and patient care.
How the RVI reduced waste and resource use
The department stopped using disposable silver trays, removing around 95,000 single-use items from clinical waste. It also moved documents online, saving nearly 12,000 sheets of printed paper.
Grey-top blood collection bottles, used to measure glucose and lactate levels, have fallen from about 600 a week to 60. Newcastle Hospitals predicts the change will save £19,000, although the source does not specify the period covered by that estimate.
The department has also reduced the use of metered-dose inhalers and replaced them with dry powder inhalers where possible. The source says dry powder inhalers produce 18 to 40 times less carbon emissions, but does not provide a total emissions saving for the RVI.
GreenED bronze status recognises changes across the department
The GreenED programme measures efforts to reduce the environmental impact of emergency departments. Bronze status recognises departments that have embedded sustainable practices across several areas rather than relying on a single project.
At the RVI, sustainability has been added to staff inductions and supported through awareness campaigns, staff surveys and opportunities for colleagues and patients to suggest further improvements.
Alex Hemsley, an advanced clinical practitioner in the emergency department, led the initiative. She said the changes showed how small adjustments could reduce waste and unnecessary paper use while supporting prescribing improvements and recycling.
The award does not mean the department has completed its sustainability work. Newcastle Hospitals says the team is continuing to look at further reductions in single-use products, more digital clinical processes and ways to reduce the carbon footprint of medicines and treatment.
Why greener emergency care is being pursued
Dr Ian Higginson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said emergency departments already see the effects of pollution, extreme temperatures and environmental change. He congratulated the RVI team for reducing emissions, waste and costs.
Newcastle Hospitals has also received bronze partner status from the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, an independent UK charity focused on changing healthcare for people and the planet. That status gives the trust access to expert resources and support, and is marked through the planting of 15 trees as part of the NHS Forest initiative.
For patients, the confirmed changes are mainly behind-the-scenes measures affecting clinical waste, paperwork, blood collection supplies and inhaler choices where clinically appropriate. The department’s next stated focus is reducing single-use products, digitising more processes and lowering the carbon impact of medicines and treatment.
Source: Newcastle Hospitals News
Context & actions About this article
Source check Source check
The report was checked against Newcastle Hospitals’ published account of the RVI GreenED recognition and its quantified sustainability measures.
- Confirmed the bronze GreenED status and the organisations named in the announcement.
- Checked the figures for single-use items, printed paper and grey-top blood bottles.
- Retained the source’s qualification that inhaler replacements are made where possible.
- Flagged that the £19,000 saving estimate has no stated time period in the supplied materia...
- Source
- Newcastle Hospitals News
- Scope
- Newcastle
- Updated
- 2026-07-30 12:16
Source check
Report a trust issue
Send a clear signal to community moderation if the source, facts or context need review.
Comments