Tackling pharmacy's reliance on single use plastic

Title:

Tackling pharmacy's reliance on single use plastic

Summary:

Aim of the project:

To reduce plastic consumption/waste within the hospital pharmacy department, focusing on the unnecessary application of single use plastic bags. 

Setting of the project: Hospital pharmacy (University Hospital Sussex and East Kent Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust)

What was the problem?

Excessive use of single use plastic bag to transport:

• Multiple items from the dispensary to wards;
• Patients’ own medication;
• Fridge items;
• Items across sites;
• Patient discharge medication;

Challenges:

Not just replacing one single-use item with another more sustainable single-use item.

Some people saw single-use plastic bags as essential — only after the removal occurred were people convinced that they were not required.

There was also fear that the paper bags would not be strong enough, but since the start of this project no incidences of bag failures have been reported

Solutions:

Procurement software was used to run reports and highlight bags that were being used the most.

Working groups were established within the departments, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and assistants.

Feedback from all stakeholders, including the pharmacy staff and end users, such as nursing staff, were also obtained.

Environmental: 300,000 pieces of single-use plastic across both trusts

CSH support (if any)?

If this work was supported by CSH or was initiated as a result of attendance at one of our courses, please list here:

N/A

Key contacts:

Sam Coombes, lead medicines information technician, East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust

Sam.Coombes@nhs.net

Source:

Original source of data (if published elsewhere):

Pharmaceutical Journal https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/opinion/tackling-pharmacys-reliance-on-single-use-plastic