Emergency Unit achieves GreenED Silver Award at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales

3 September 2026

On Friday 28th August the Royal College of Emergency Medicine announced that the Emergency Unit at the University Hospital of Wales had been awarded Silver Accreditation in GreenED programme.

The accreditation recognises the team's commitment to reducing the department's environmental impact while prioritising patient care.

The initiative has been led by the department's GreenED group, including Emergency Medicine Consultant Dr Carolyn Lewis. Dr Lewis said: "Previously, my mindset was that environmental sustainability was almost too big to tackle. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine gives a really great framework that allows us to focus on bite-sized pieces as opposed to one big abstract problem, to make a meaningful difference."

Some of the practical changes introduced with the support of the GreenED group include:

• Increasing access to recycling facilities and improving waste management to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill or medical waste incineration.
• Moving to the use of oral rather than intravenous antibiotics and paracetamol where clinically appropriate, often with less discomfort to patients and less waste.
• Improving the segregation of sharps waste to reduce the environmental impact of disposal.
• Transitioning from Entonox, which contributes significantly to greenhouse emissions, to Penthrox for pain management
• Adopting the principles of the Gloves Off campaign to use single-use plastic gloves only when clinically necessary.
• Switching to recycled A4 printer paper.
• Increasing the use of digital patient information leaflets to reduce paper.

Dr Max Rowlands, Junior Clinical Fellow in Emergency Medicine and Sustainability, said: "Climate crisis issues will disproportionately affect the poorest in society. I think doctors and nurses and health professionals have a duty to make sure they're protecting those groups of people."

Dr Rowlands, who was recruited with dedicated time for sustainability work, said: "Part of achieving accreditation is having a department that gives people protected time to think about these issues. That's one of the most important things you can do. Otherwise, people don't always have the time or cognitive bandwidth to develop and implement improvements."

Dr Ian Higginson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “A huge congratulations to colleagues at University Hospital of Wales, who have been awarded Silver accreditation through RCEM’s GreenED programme.

“This summer, some parts of the UK and Ireland we have seen firsthand the impact that man-made climate change can have.

“As Emergency Medicine clinicians, we see how this effects our patients and so it fills me with hope that colleagues across the world are taking matters into their own hands. Tackling climate change is more important now than ever.

“We, as a College, are proud to support clinicians to do their part and this reward reflects the hard work and innovation of the team at UHW who have worked to reduce emissions, and waste, ultimately saving money for their departments and improving patient care.”

Having secured Silver, the team has now set its sights on achieving Gold Accreditation.

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