Surgical staff at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) have started wearing their own homemade hats, in an effort to be more sustainable.
The main material used in the disposable hats usually worn by staff working in surgical theatres is viscose, which is made from wood. The need to produce disposable hats made from viscose in bulk has the impact of depleting natural forests.
Reducing waste
On average, an individual working in theatres uses one to two disposable hats every day and there are between seven and 10 members of staff per team.
The NNUH predicts it could save up to two tonnes of clinical waste a year on hats alone. That’s the equivalent of almost 315,000 disposable hats over the course of three years and up to 12 tonnes of CO2.
New guidance
The decision to opt for homemade headwear came after the introduction of new hospital guidance permitting theatre staff to wear washable cloth hats as opposed to single-use disposable ones.
Since then, Amy Greengrass, Consultant Anaesthetist and Clinical Lead for Sustainability, says she has seen more colleagues choosing the sustainable option: “When I came in to do a case on a recent weekend on call, I was so excited to see that every member of the emergency theatre team was wearing their own cloth hat.
“To me, it really felt like a milestone as we try to move towards a tipping point for embedding environmental sustainability within our culture at NNUH.
