Three Cardiff and Vale UHB projects win NHS Sustainability Awards
14 June 2024
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board are delighted to announce that three of its environmentally sustainable initiatives have won at the NHS Wales Sustainability Awards.
The NHS Wales Sustainability Awards celebrate ways of making healthcare services more environmentally sustainable. Recipients were announced at a ceremony at the Vale Resort on Thursday 13 June.
The 'Spread & Scale' Award was awarded to Cardiff and Vale’s Walking Aids Recycling Scheme.
The CAVUHB Physiotherapy team noticed a significant amount of walking aids were being sent to landfill as there was no process to recycle and reuse them.
The team partnered with the Cardiff HM Probation Service to provide the workforce to safety check and clean returned walking aids. Through the Walking Aids Amnesty and a clearer returns process, 8,000 crutches, frames and walking sticks have been refurbished and recycled over the last two years.
KidzMedz Cymru won The Prosperous Wales Award for their work teaching children over the age of five to transition from liquid to solid medicine. Liquid medicines cost more, have a shorter shelf life, lead to more wastage and have a higher carbon footprint due to increased packaging.
The team created educational kits including dummy capsules and certificates. The project has reduced the number of liquid medicines dispensed.
The Globally Responsible Wales Award was awarded to CAVUHB's Adult Critical Care Unit. The Green ICU Team have made a raft of changes aiming to put environmental sustainability at the centre of how they care for patients, staff and the planet.
The team have successfully reduced their electricity consumption, introduced recycling of enteral feed bottles and transitioned patients away from drinking sterile bottled water amongst many other initiatives.
A further seventeen projects from Cardiff and Vale University Health Board were shortlisted for NHS Wales Sustainability Awards.
Calum Shaw, CAVUHB’s Environmental Sustainability Project Manager, said: “These award-winning projects demonstrate some of the amazing work being done across the Health Board to deliver environmentally friendly outcomes and to act for the future.
“There is vast knowledge and experience within all our nominated projects, which I hope can support and inspire further sustainable change within our healthcare settings.”
Read more about Cardiff and Vale University Health Board’s commitment to act for the future at shapingourfuturewellbeing.com and the plan to reduce its impact on the planet.