A pioneering research project looking to reduce the environmental impact of the healthcare system has secured £3.1m additional funding to identify new opportunities for change.
The Design HOPES (Healthy Organisations in a Place-based Ecosystem, Scotland) project aims to help NHS Scotland meet its net zero targets by reducing carbon output across the system.
This includes creating new products and services, exploring how design can address some of the barriers to transitioning to net zero.
Led by researchers across the universities of Strathclyde, Dundee, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt and Abertay, the latest funding increase builds on success from the first phase of work.
Here, researchers collaborated with NHS Scotland to develop fully sustainable and biodegradable reusable healthcare textiles including theatre caps.
With new funding to deliver the project’s second phase from October 2024 to March 2028, the Design HOPES team are looking to scale up design interventions.
In partnership with NHS Scotland’s National Centre for Sustainable Delivery, the team are currently working to roll out a larger trial of the reusable theatre caps across the 14 regional health boards.
Professor Mel Woods, Chair of Creative Intelligence at the University of Dundee and co-director of Design HOPES, said:
“Across Design HOPES we are showing how design can drive change at many levels, from a Green Ward Toolkit helping NHS staff measure and reduce a hospital ward’s environmental impact, to the Flow serious game, tackling net zero through patient journeys in emergency settings.
“Our next milestone is to translate this research into lasting impact.
“The project is connecting sustainability in the NHS with the public imagination, embedding outcomes and changing everyday practice, and policy at the heart of the NHS.”
Dr Lisa Macintyre, Associate Professor in Textile Technology at Heriot-Watt School of Textiles and Design, added:
“This is a rare opportunity to follow through on our initial findings and initiatives, to optimise better products and services that concurrently improve people’s lives and reduce waste.”
The team says it will use the new funding to build on successful collaborations with not just NHS Scotland, but also third sector and industry partners.
The Green Wards Toolkit, created in partnership with NHS Tayside, helps staff engage with challenges related to net zero and key themes for change, from travel to medicines and energy use, and waste within wards.
Design HOPES look to develop a range of fully sustainable reusable textile products to build from work already underway and empower clinical and non-clinical staff to make small changes for the environment.
University of Strathclyde’s Department of Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management and DESIGN HOPES co-director Professor Paul Rodgers said:
“Moving into phase two, Design HOPES will again be working closely with NHS colleagues to translate research findings into real world solutions.
“This intervention will support NHS priorities by providing evidence-based solutions that contribute to net zero goals.”
Heriot-Watt Professor and Manager of Medical Device Manufacturing Centre, Marc Desmulliez is collaborating with a company on evaluating a system that can crack down nitrous oxide in maternity wards.
He said the funding will provide the necessary support to drive forward efforts to fully evaluate how effective this system is and its potential for deployment across NHS Scotland.
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Heriot-Watt Assistant Professor of Design Euan Winton added:
“We’re proud to be supporting NHS Scotland in advancing a range of interconnected initiatives focused on planetary health.
“It’s an energising and purposeful opportunity, and we’re thrilled to be contributing to meaningful, lasting change.”
Across the two phases, the project has received a total award value of £7.75m, with the latest funding from the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council.
An earlier work-in-progress exhibition at the V&A in Dundee, Scotland’s Design Museum was visited by more than 50,000 people.
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