A group of anaesthetists from Royal North Shore Hospital have been named as finalists for the ‘Environmental Sustainability Award’ at the upcoming 2023 NSW Health Awards.

Anaesthetists Associate Professor Matthew Doane, Adam Rehak, Penny Hodges, Andy Lindberg, Arpit Srivastava and Max Benness have been actively working as part of a multifaceted program to reduce the perioperative carbon footprint at the hospital by introducing a multifaceted program.

Penny and Andy are also both sustainability leads for anaesthesia and are part of NSLHD’s Australian First Net Zero Leads program.    

This program involved educating staff, implementing practice changes, and undertaking audits. This program first launched at Royal North Shore Hospital and then was extended across the district.

A highlight for the team has been implementing the significant shift away from anaesthetic gases which are high carbon emitters – such as desflurane, which has a global warming potential that is almost 2500 times greater than carbon dioxide. 

Desflurane usage at RNSH has gone from 30 per cent of total gas usage to less than 2 per cent, which is well below the NSW Health key performance indicator of 4 per cent.

Penny said her and her colleagues feel privileged to be acknowledged at the awards.

“I am very grateful to be part of the team that’s been named as a finalist for a NSW Health Awards” she said.

“This is amazing recognition that brings awareness to some of the important sustainability challenges that we are working collectively to address.”