Project Leads: Abreen Yasin ST6, Tom Ratcliffe-Law CT3, Laura May Cons Anaes at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

The #TheatreCapChallenge is the campaign include clinician’s names and job titles on their theatre caps to improve recognition, communication and personalisation of patient care.

In addition to these benefits, the team at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust were keen take on the #TheatreCapChallenge to reduce waste and promote sustainability in the medical field. Single-use theatre hats contain a hidden source of single use viscose; 120 million trees are cut down annually for viscose production. The production of viscose fibres also creates a significant amount of toxic wastewater.

At UHCW, the introduction of reusable, personalised theatre caps have resulted in savings of £10,336 and 3.36 tonnes of CO₂e.

The initiative is currently being expanded throughout the region, with the goal of providing every anaesthetic trainee with a reusable West Midlands school hat which can be used throughout their rotations during training.

Going forwards, UHCW’s #TheatreCapChallenge are working on including the surgical specialties. They are also exploring sponsorship options to provide funding for expansion, first across the three schools across the region and then nationally.

Design for Life