Tackling the Climate Crisis In Medical Care

Tackling the Climate Crisis is a top priority across the board and amongst the many companies stating their action plans, the NHS has announced the impact that their long-standing commitment in medical care has already made.

Helen Bird from WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) lauded them for their fantastic achievements in “removing plastic items where they do not make sense for the environment and looking for alternatives to materials which are not recyclable” – an achievement that Cullen has contributed to for more than a decade with the supply of our moulded pulp medical products to the NHS as well as the HSE in Ireland and the Health Boards of 30 other countries worldwide including the UAE, Chile, Malta, Japan and Canada.

NHS England Chief Exec Simon Stevens confirmed it’s continued commitment, saying “It is right that the NHS and our suppliers should join the national campaign to turn the tide on plastic waste. Doing so will be good for our environment, for patients and for taxpayers who fund our NHS”. From urine bottles to kidney dishes, Cullen manufactured and supplied pulp products replace time, labour and resource intensive items with efficient, economical and environmentally sound alternatives.

The NHS has also reduced the carbon footprint of the health and social care sector by 19% since 2007, in spite of a 27% increase in capacity and has decreased water consumption by 21% between 2010 and 2017 – impressive improvements contributed to by Cullen.

WHY MOULDED PULP?

Cullen manufacture a range of moulded pulp medical products and supply to the NHS across the UK. Various pulp products replace the energy-exhaustive, labour-intensive and expensive option of washing and sterilising re-usable alternatives. Made from fully recycled and compostable materials, our medical pulp products consistently out-perform alternatives across all categories.

Medical waste disposed of using our moulded pulp urine bottle, for example, uses only 18 litres of cold water compared with the 40 litres of hot water at a temperature of 90°C required to clean the plastic equivalent for its next use. For every use of a Cullen medical pulp product there is a reduction of 60% in water consumption with the added bonus of absolutely no energy used to heat the water to a high temperature and no use of expensive chemicals.

Not only do Cullen pulp products decrease environmental impact they significantly improve the patient care experience by drastically reducing both cross-contamination and nursing time required. By introducing moulded pulp into a patient caring ward, that requirement of nursing time to dispose of human waste can reduce from 10 minutes to 90 seconds. This is done by removing the requirement to wash and disinfect reusable utensils, freeing nurses to care for their patients.

Moreover, these improvements in environmental impact and patient care are achievable at a cost of up to 39.4% less than the alternative.

The Cullen team attended Arab Health in Dubai to discuss our medical moulded pulp solutions. Contact us to arrange a meeting at our next medical event.