MSG stops using anaesthetic harmful to the environment

Scotland has become the first country in the world to ban its hospitals using desflurane because of the threat it poses to the environment.

The gas, which is used to keep people unconscious during surgery, has a global warming potential 2,500 times greater than carbon dioxide.

An MSG spokeswoman said the business was committed to reducing the environmental impact of anaesthetic practice, and committed itself two years ago to reducing the quantity of desflurane used.

‘This was achieved by a number of changes in practice including the promotion of low flow techniques, use of alternative volatile anaesthetic gasses with less harm than desflurane, and in many cases avoiding all use of anaesthetic gasses by using intravenous anaesthetic methods,’ she said.

‘In 2019 the hospital used 57 litres of liquid desflurane, which reduced to only two litres in 2022.

‘This reduction is equivalent to 2m. kilometres in a small car.

‘In late 2022 the anaesthetic department agreed that desflurane no longer had a place in modern anaesthetic practice so we discontinued its use totally.’

Less polluting alternatives, such as regional anaesthesia and other general anaesthesia gases, are available.

MSG is a part of the Association of Anaesthetist’s Environmental Network.

‘The department environmental champion – Dr Graham Beck – is working with colleagues to find other ways of making anaesthetic practice more sustainable while continuing to improve the high quality of care we provide,’ the spokeswoman said.

UK hospitals have already cut down on using the drug and it has been reported that over the last few years more than 40 hospital trusts in England and a number of hospitals in Wales have stopped using it.

NHS England has said that it will use the anaesthetic desflurane only in exceptional circumstances by early 2024 as part of its ambitions to reduce carbon emissions under its control to zero by 2040.