Hospital environmental audit and improvement tool: dental hospital case study

Introduction: Hospitals have a burden of responsibility for their contribution to climate change and pollution. The Hospital Environmental Audit and Improvement Tool (HEAIT) provides a comprehensive hospital-wide stakeholder engagement to mitigate hospital environmental impacts. HEAIT is a metric-based institutional advocacy tool for auditing, evaluating and improving environmental practice in hospitals.

Method: HEAIT was implemented in the Department of Restorative Dentistry, Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, Sheffield, UK. A thematic scoping review identified all the environmental impacts arising from the practice of oral healthcare: 124 action statements across 16 specific theme categories that were coded and categorised according to: i) level of importance and environmental benefit; and ii) degree of implementation difficulty. Progress in each activity area is audited and graded (point allocation), identifying areas for improvement and measurable goals for improved performance.

Results: The toolkit was mapped against industry standard audit and improvement parameters. All parameters have been addressed, with identification of required further actions. The calculator was compliant against the audit criteria providing a baseline of environmental sustainability activity.

Conclusion: HEAIT provides an effective and validated way of achieving real engagement of the whole workforce in a meaningful manner to achieve measurable goals as part of a collaborative environmental mitigation strategy.