Patient safety is paramount at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. And when patient safety measures also support our commitment to be kinder to the planet, it’s win win!
We’re delighted to have fully adopted the use of reusable scrub caps in our Brachytherapy, Papillon & Interventional Radiology Theatres as well as the Clinical Interventions Teams at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool.
Depending on their role, each member of the team wears a different coloured cotton scrub cap. For example, Consultants wear a green cap and Radiographers wear maroon. When a patient is having a medical procedure, such as brachytherapy treatment or a PIC line fitted to allow them to receive medications, the skills and specialities of the people in the room can be quickly and easily identified. The caps also have the member of staff’s names on them to help make patients feel more comfortable, knowing who is caring for them.
Kate Rossiter is Theatre Manager at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust. She says: “Whilst we’ve been using these caps for a while at the Trust, we’re so pleased to have now fully introduced them across all departments. The different colours are really helpful for quickly identifying who is in the room, particularly in the rare event of an emergency – we know instantly who in the team is needed to resolve the situation. We’ve also chosen to have our first names and our job role embroidered on the front. Our patients tell us that really like knowing our names, it makes them feel more comfortable during what can be a really stressful time for them.”
These reusable caps can be washed and worn by the team again and again, reducing the need for disposable caps and the amount of waste we produce as a Trust. This is all to support the NHS’s commitment to reach net zero in carbon emissions by 2040.
Kerry Gibbons, Sustainability Manager for The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre has also been supporting the team’s move over to reusable scrub caps. She adds: “This is such a great initiative and a simple way for us to reduce the amount of single use items we are using in our Trust. We have similar initiatives in other services too, such as our Gloves Off project, aimed at ensuring the appropriate use of single-use plastic gloves on our sites. We’re really committed to reducing our carbon footprint here at Clatterbridge and I’m delighted that this initiative not only helps us meet that objective, but that it helps us improve our service to patients."
For more information on our Green Plan and how we’re looking to reduce our carbon footprint at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, click on this link to read a summary of the plan.
