Eliminating anaesthetic gas leaks 'significant' for Cork hospital's carbon footprint

CUH decommissions pipe system which delivered inhaled nitrous oxide anaesthetic to machines in surgical theatres, replacing it with a small cylinder of the gas attached to each anaesthetic machine 

Denise O’Brien, Lavina McCarthy, Aisling Lehane, and Aileen Fitzgerald. Front: Patrick Hassett, PJ Murphy, Cathal Flannery, Dr Cathy Burke, and Ruaidhri de Barra at CUH. Picture: Larry Cummins

One of the largest public hospitals in Ireland has finished a major environmental project to eliminate leaks into the atmosphere of a common anaesthetic and potent greenhouse gas.

Cork University Hospital (CUH), which in 2014 became the first Green Flag hospital campus in the world, has decommissioned its decades-old pipe system, which delivered the inhaled anaesthetic, nitrous oxide (N2O), to machines in the surgical theatres, replacing it with a small cylinder of the gas attached to each anaesthetic machine for delivery to the patient as required.