13th June 2023, 13:00 -14:30 BST
The Sustainable Healthcare Coalition (SHC) has collaborated with Newcastle Upon Tyne Foundation NHS Trust (NUTH) and AstraZeneca to produce ICHDcarbon.org, a free, online carbon footprint calculator for use by in-centre haemodialysis units. It measures unit’s overall footprint and carbon intensity per patient session and identifies the greenhouse gas emission hotspots from running your haemodialysis unit.
End-stage kidney disease (ESKD) requires a disproportionate share of healthcare system resources for its treatment, with correspondingly large cost, resource use and environmental impacts. In 2019, the Green Nephrology Group in NUTH approached the SHC to launch a project to footprint their renal services, focusing first on one of the most environmentally damaging areas of renal practice – haemodialysis. The project mapped the haemodialysis service delivery within NUTH using the SHC’s Care Pathway Guidance, using life cycle assessment approaches to understand the whole environmental footprint associated with activities – from manufacture, through service delivery to disposal – and identify opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of the service. The NUTH – SHC collaboration delivered a good picture of what in-centre haemodialysis looks like through a sustainability lens.
Note: This calculator has been developed using the insight gained through the NUTH-SHC project to make an accessible tool available for other in-centre haemodialysis service centres around the world to assess their own footprints and identify where to focus their efforts to change. The calculator has been prepared by the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition, of which AstraZeneca is a member. AstraZeneca sponsored the calculator and does not guarantee the reported outcomes.