Teams at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) have been trialling a more sustainable approach to delivering eye injections used to treat sight-threatening conditions.
The approach is helping to reduce waste and save money, while maintaining high standards of patient care.
The work has been led by OUH's Sustainable Eye Care team, who reviewed how these injections are delivered. Over the years, the team systematically reviewed each step of the procedure, asking whether long-established practices were supported by evidence and whether they could be delivered in a more sustainable way.
Now a series of changes have been made including removing unnecessary single-use items and adopting a more streamlined injection technique.
The team stopped the routine use of some products that evidence showed were unnecessary, including postoperative antibiotics, while also moving from sterile to non-sterile gloves and reducing the use of disposable equipment used during the procedure.
Evaluation of the changes across more than 120,000 injections performed between 2016 and 2024 found that the revised approach did not increase the risk of serious infection, while also improving patient comfort and reducing waste.
The changes are also estimated to remove more than three tonnes of waste each year and save between £150,000 and £180,000.
Sam de Silva, Consultant Ophthalmologist at OUH, said: "As healthcare providers, we have a responsibility to consider the environmental impact of the services we deliver while maintaining the highest standards of patient care.
"We looked carefully at every stage of the injection process and challenged ourselves to make meaningful and sustainable changes. The result is a simpler approach that is supported by evidence, preferred by many patients and significantly reduces waste."
Ariel Ong, Senior Resident Doctor in Ophthalmology at OUH, said: "We encourage others to consider their current clinical practice and think about why they are doing what they are doing, as some processes may be based on habit rather than evidence. There are likely to be many other opportunities to remove unnecessary steps and streamline pathways in ways that improve sustainability while maintaining high-quality patient care."
