Sheffield Children’s Hospital takes significant steps in reducing carbon emissions

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has made significant steps in reducing its carbon emissions, while maintaining the highest level of care for patients. 

The anaesthetic team at Sheffield Children’s Hospital has put in place a number of initiatives since 2019, which have resulted in an overall 4% reduction in the hospital’s carbon footprint. 

The most significant steps include:

• Moving away from the use of Desflurane, an anaesthetic gas with a global warming potential 2,500 times greater than carbon dioxide 
• Decommissioning the wall supply of nitrous oxide, opting instead for portable gas cylinders, which has dramatically cut emissions—equivalent to driving from New York to Los Angeles every day for a year.

These combined initiatives mark a major milestone in Sheffield Children’s ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability as part of its mission to create a healthier future for children and young people. 

In 2019, the anaesthetic team proactively eliminated the use of Desflurane, an anaesthetic agent which is slated to be banned in 2024.  NHS data suggests Desflurane, used to anaesthetise during surgery, has a global warming potential 2,500 times greater than carbon dioxide. The anaesthetic team now also use predominantly total intravenous anaesthesia. 

More recently, the team at Sheffield Children’s were awarded a £15, 000 grant from the NHS Healthier Futures fund to support efforts to decommission the Nitrous Oxide (N20) manifold. Nitrous oxide, used in anaesthesia for nearly 180 years, is a potent greenhouse gas, nearly 300 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Previously, the gas was delivered to anaesthesia areas via a pipeline from large storage cylinders, known as the N2O manifold, which was highly inefficient with only 2 to 15% of the gas reaching the anaesthesia areas. Small cylinders of nitrous oxide are now available in anaesthetic rooms for occasional use.

Sheffield Children’s is one of just a few NHS Trusts in the UK to have carried out the decommission of the Nitrous Oxide manifold, as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability.

The early action to stop using Desflurane and moving to intravenous anaesthesia, combined with the switch to portable gas cylinders, has resulted in an overall 4% reduction in the hospital’s carbon footprint.

Dr. Liz Allison, Consultant Anaesthetist at Sheffield Children’s Hospital said: “We believe we are the first paediatric NHS trust to decommission the N2O manifold. Last year, we calculated an 83% loss in nitrous oxide from the N20 manifold to theatres, equivalent to nearly a million miles of driving. The project to decommission the N20 manifold has significantly reduced our hospital’s carbon footprint and supports the NetZero NHS plan.

“Our anaesthetic team practices an environmentally friendly approach to anaesthesia, predominantly using intravenous anaesthesia and minimizing wastage of other agents, which are harmful to the environment.”

For more information about our commitment to a sustainable future, please read Sheffield Children’s Green Plan.