Abstract
Background
The National Health Service (NHS) in England has set a target to be net zero for carbon emissions by 2045. The aim of this study was to investigate the estimated difference between the carbon footprint of the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) High Volume Low Complexity (HVLC) pathway for cataract surgery and current practice.
Methods
Retrospective analysis of administrative data. Data were extracted from the Hospital Episode Statistics database for all elective cataract surgery procedures conducted in England from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022.
Results
The England average carbon footprint was 100.0 kgCO2e (ranging from 74.8 kgCO2e – 128.0 kgCO2e depending on Integrated Care Board). Had all Integrated Care Boards adhered to the GIRFT HVLC pathway, then 17.5 kilotonsCO2e would have been saved in 2021–22. The main limitation of our study is that only key elements of the cataract surgery pathway were included in the analysis.
Conclusions
Even in a standardised healthcare pathway such as cataract surgery and within a publicly funded national healthcare system, significant differences in practice exist. With this paper we have demonstrated that tackling this unwarranted variation and adhering to the GIRFT HVLC pathway where possible has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of cataract surgery.
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Data availability
This report does not contain patient identifiable data. Data in this report are anonymised. The underlying HES data cannot be made available directly by the authors as the data were obtained under licence/data sharing agreement from NHS England. HES data are available from NHS England upon application.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge NHS England for permission to use their data in this report and the Greener NHS team for invaluable advice and support. We also thank all staff within individual NHS trusts who collected and entered the data used in this study. The study protocol was not pre-registered.
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This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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This study was designed and organised by MVH, HB, MP, TWRB and WKG. Data cleaning, analysis and writing of the first draft was by MVH and WKG. All authors critically reviewed the manuscript and agreed to submission of the final draft.
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van-Hove, M., Begum, H., Phull, M. et al. The carbon footprint of cataract surgery pathways in England: an observational study using administrative data. Eye 38, 3525–3531 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-024-03356-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-024-03356-y
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