Project completed as part of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Green Team Competition.
Team members
- Vicky Gately, Clinical Band 7 Nurse
- Katie Lord, Practice Educator
- Ella Johnson, Practice Facilitator
- Sophie Jackson, Clinical Band 7 Nurse
Setting / patent group: Inpatient paediatric ward
Issue:
On Koala ward, many patients require enteral feeding due to their inability to drink orally. Enteral milk feeds are administered over specific periods, requiring the use of plastic feed handing bags sourced from China to hold the feed bottle upside down as the feed is administered to the patient. Although these bags are single-use, they do not come into contact with the feed or any liquid, making them suitable for reuse to reduce plastic waste.
Intervention
Implementing the reuse of enteral feed hanging bags for eligible patients on Koala ward throughout their admission or up to 7 days. Approval for this change was obtained from the infection prevention and dietetics teams. Ward staff were educated through email and posters, and nurses confirmed their awareness and commitment to reusing the bags by signing a register.
Outcomes
While the accumulation of stock from last year (5000 bags) complicates procurement changes, a 2-week audit suggests a potential reduction of 75% (16,000 bags) annually.
Patient outcomes: Patients are not affected by the change.
Environmental and economic sustainability: £967.20 and 193 kgCO2e per year, equivalent to driving 570.1 miles in an average car.
Social sustainability: 100% of surveyed nurses expressed concerns about healthcare's environmental impacts, with 96% worried about waste on Koala. This initiative empowers staff to address these concerns by reducing plastic usage, a change they find simple and time-saving
Key learning point
This simple yet effective change is easy to implement across the Trust through dissemination of information to educators, dieticians and potentially as a trust wide initiative.
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