‹ Go back
Northampton Green Team Competition 2025
In September 2024, Northampton General Hospital (NGH) NHS Trust commenced a Green Team Competition in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare.
Through this latest Green Team Competition, projects across Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust are projected to deliver annual savings of £111,350 and reduce carbon emissions by 28,093 kg CO₂e.
Building on staff enthusiasm for sustainability, participants received expert guidance through the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare’s award-winning Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) framework. This structured approach enabled teams to design, implement and assess initiatives that deliver measurable environmental, financial and patient care benefits, embedding sustainable thinking into everyday healthcare improvement.
Project support and implementation
CSH has worked directly with four clinical teams across NGH to support them in delivering greener, higher-value care through the application of the Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) methodology. By combining clinical insight with practical mentoring, teams were guided to explore how their services could improve health outcomes while reducing environmental and social costs. Using the sustainable value equation as a foundation, four teams progressed to active project delivery, developing, implementing, and evaluating initiatives that bring meaningful, measurable change in line with wider sustainability goals.
Showcase and awards ceremony
At the April 30th Showcase and Awards Ceremony, the teams presented their projects, including the anticipated savings and opportunities to scale and spread, to an audience from the Trust and the judging panel of expert including:
- Jo Smith, Director of Nursing, NGH
- Paul Shead, Deputy Director of Estates and Facilities Operations, NGH
- Holly Slyne, Associate Director of Infection Prevention, NGH
- Cath Richards, SusQI Programme Lead, Centre for Sustainable Healthcare
Projects showcased the potential for environmental savings, service improvement, and broader impacts on staff and patient wellbeing.
The impact
The Green Team Competition has brought meaningful, measurable value to Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. Collectively, the projects delivered through the competition are forecast to achieve £111,350 in annual cost savings and cut carbon emissions by approximately 28,093 kg CO₂e each year. That’s the environmental equivalent of:
- Driving over 82,775 miles in a typical petrol vehicle
- Completing roughly 119 return journeys between Northampton and Edinburgh
- Matching the annual carbon absorption of 1,124 mature trees
More than just numbers, the programme has helped ignite a culture of sustainability across clinical teams, encouraging greener, smarter, and more person-focused ways of delivering care.
These early successes show the potential of grassroots, well-mentored initiatives to support the NHS’s net zero ambitions while improving patient outcomes and operational efficiency.
Winners
Congratulations to the winning team, the Infection Prevention and Control Team, led by Jasmine Lowdon.
During her ward visits, Jasmine Lowdon, a Band 6 IPC nurse, noticed that caffeinated drinks were routinely offered throughout the day. Aware of how caffeine affected her own wellbeing, she began to question its wider impact on patients, staff morale, and resource use. Motivated to explore a more sustainable approach, Jasmine used the Green Team Competition as a platform to investigate whether switching to decaf could benefit both health outcomes and environmental goals.
“I was aware of the Green Team Competition having entered previously and felt it gave me an opportunity to discover if a switch to Decaf would improve patient health and the sustainability of resources across UHN.”
Jasmine Lowdon, Band 6 IPC Nurse
Their project, inspired by best practices from other NHS trusts, demonstrates how small, evidence-based changes can deliver significant sustainable value, enhancing patient outcomes, supporting staff wellbeing and reducing both environmental impact and financial costs. At the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, we’re excited to follow the team’s progress as they work towards scaling this impactful initiative across the entire hospital.
Highly Commended
Congratulations to the General Surgery Team for successfully delivering two impactful sustainability projects. The first focused on replacing general anaesthesia with local anaesthesia for appropriate procedures, helping to reduce patient recovery times and environmental impact. The second project targeted the optimisation of surgical equipment sets, cutting down on unnecessary items and reducing sterilisation demands.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate how smart, clinically-led decisions can enhance patient care, boost operational efficiency, and significantly lower both carbon emissions and healthcare costs. This work is a strong example of how routine clinical practice can align with the NHS’s broader sustainability and net zero goals.
The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare would like to thank and congratulate all teams that took part in the competition. The outcomes of the competition stand as a testament to the dedication and hard work of each team in advancing the sustainability of our healthcare systems.
Green Team Competition projects
Read the full Impact Report here or view the project summaries below.
1. Reducing the effects of caffeine on patient health, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Team
Team members: Jasmine Lowdon, Band 6 IPC Nurse; Holly Slyne, Associate Director of Infection Prevention and Control
Setting / patient group: Trust-wide, with a focus on elderly care wards
Summary
This winning project identified a common but overlooked contributor to poor patient outcomes, routine provision of caffeinated drinks throughout the day. Recognising the link between caffeine and issues such as poor sleep, incontinence, increased falls, and heightened aggression, the team piloted a switch to decaffeinated alternatives. The intervention required no extra staff training or resources, making it simple yet highly scalable.
Outcomes
The decaf switch delivered wide-ranging benefits across all pillars of sustainable value. Clinically, it led to a 57% reduction in falls, a 29% drop in incontinence incidents, and a significant improvement in sleep quality, rising from just 7% to 47% of patients reporting six or more hours of sleep. These changes were also linked to a 66% decrease in incidents of violence and aggression. Environmentally, the initiative is expected to cut carbon emissions by approximately 4,941 kgCO₂e each year.
Financially, the Trust anticipates annual savings of £7,320 through reduced continence product use and a further £19,968 through fewer falls. Socially, the shift to decaffeinated options has enhanced patient dignity and wellbeing, while also reducing pressure on staff, boosting morale and enabling more proactive, person-centred care.
2. Sustainable abscess incision & drainage, General Surgery Team
Team members: Mr Amari Thompson, General Surgery and Chief Registrar; Mr Jatinder Singh, General Surgery Registrar; Dr Arya Krishnan, Vascular Surgery Registrar; Miss Reem Moussa, Core Surgical Trainee; Mr Guy Finch, General Surgery Consultant
Setting / patient group: Surgical services
Summary
This highly commended project introduced a dual approach to improving sustainability in surgical care. First, it replaced general anaesthesia (GA) with local anaesthesia (LA) for appropriate procedures such as abscess incision and drainage. Second, it reviewed and streamlined surgical instrument sets to reduce unnecessary items and associated sterilisation.
Outcomes
By switching 20–30% of procedures from general anaesthesia (GA) to local anaesthesia (LA), the team achieved annual savings of between £18,900 and £28,350, alongside carbon reductions of 250–333 kgCO₂e. In parallel, optimising surgical instrument trays helped eliminate unnecessary items, reducing sterilisation costs by an estimated £9,450 and cutting a further 750 kgCO₂e in carbon emissions.
These changes also brought meaningful social benefits: patients experienced quicker recovery times, avoided the need to fast or arrange transport, and were often able to receive same-day care. Clinically, outcomes remained stable, while the initiative helped free up emergency theatre capacity and created valuable hands-on learning opportunities for junior doctors and medical students.
3. Reducing food waste on Holcot Ward, Elderly Medicine and Catering Team
Team members: Trena Lee, Ward Sister, Holcot Ward; Martin Baldwin, Catering Services Manager
Setting / patient group: Holcot Ward, 30-bed elderly medicine ward
Summary
The team aimed to tackle unnecessary food waste, a contributor to both environmental impact and operational inefficiency. By improving communication between patients, catering staff, and ward teams, and by refining menu selection processes, the ward saw a significant drop in meal returns.
Outcomes
The initiative led to a range of positive outcomes, starting with an estimated 1,645 kgCO₂e reduction in carbon emissions each year. Financially, it delivered annual savings of £6,352 through reduced food waste. Socially, patient satisfaction improved as fewer meals were returned uneaten, indicating that more patients were enjoying their food. This, in turn, boosted morale among both catering and clinical staff, who reported greater job satisfaction knowing their efforts were contributing to better patient experiences. Importantly, the reduction in food waste also suggests a potential improvement in patient nutrition, which could support better health outcomes within this vulnerable population.
4. Reducing unused cannulas in A&E, Emergency Medicine Team
Team members: Sriram Boppana, Junior Clinical Fellow, Emergency medicine; Rana Goadar, Junior Clinical Fellow, Emergency medicine
Setting / patient group: Emergency Department
Summary
This project focused on minimising the routine insertion of cannulas in A&E when not clinically necessary. The team educated staff on best practices, encouraged reflective decision-making, and tracked the number of unused cannulas.
Outcomes
The project delivered clear, measurable benefits across all areas of sustainable value. Environmentally, reducing the number of unused cannulas is expected to save around 498 kgCO₂e each year. Financially, the initiative resulted in annual savings of £2,203. From a social perspective, patients experienced improved comfort and reduced pain, while clinically, the project helped to minimise unnecessary procedures and lower the risk of associated complications. Staff engagement was strong throughout, with teams recognising the initiative’s positive impact on both care quality and service efficiency.
