Sustainability and the Hospital for Small Animals

Following a recent Practice Standards inspection, the Hospital for Small Animals has been reflecting on it's impact on the world. 

It now: 

• Uses paper towels instead of swabs and incontinence pads where appropriate, as they take much less energy to make and dispose of. 
• Uses electronic consent forms, discharge forms and offlicense consent forms wherever possible, and send our welcome packs to clients digitally. If paper is required, we use recycled paper and have recycling bins throughout the Hospital for waste paper. 
• Offers rechargeable batteries. 
• Replaces thermometers’ batteries rather than buying new thermometers. 
• Collects bubble wrap and send it for reuse to package IT products for shipping. Anaesthesia also like using it for patient insulation/warming! 
• Encourages its clients to return any unused medication for us to dispose of. This minimises clients using out-of-date medicines or disposing of medicines incorrectly into the waterways.
• Uses reusable cotton surgical hats and provide theatre shoes instead of shoe covers. 
• Recycles unsoiled drapes, pouches, saline bags, suture packets and cardboard boxes by keeping separate from clinical waste. 
• Swaps wherever possible to cardboard bins for waste from heavy duty plastic bins. 
• Uses paper bags for medications rather than plastic bags to go home with the client. 
• Has a wildlife-friendly area outside and a community maintained wildlife friendly garden behind the hospital.