Synopsis
The Health Service Environmental Sustainability (HSES) competition, hosted by the University of Melbourne, supports healthcare staff to design and deliver practical sustainability initiatives using a sustainable quality improvement framework. The program enables staff and teams to identify opportunities, implement change, and measure impact across both patient care and environmental outcomes.
The Royal Children’s Hospital participated in the competition for the first time 2025 with 10 projects submitted. In a ‘shark tank’ style pitch, this Grand Round will showcase a selection of projects developed and delivered by campus staff as part of the competition. Featured initiatives include transitioning to reusable pulse oximeter probes in theatre, implementing a decision-support tool in PICU to reduce unnecessary blood gas testing, and repackaging high-cost medications into paediatric doses to minimise waste and carbon emissions.
Together, these projects demonstrate how individual staff can lead meaningful, measurable improvements—delivering benefits for both patient care and the environment.
Project presenters:
Jess Sands and Claire Kerr, Clinical Nurse Specialists, PICU: Reducing unnecessary Bloody Gas tests in PCIU
Alana Stewart, Pharmacist: Optimising Alprostadil Supply
Rebecca Mcintyre, Consultant Anaesthetist: Pre-operative paracetamol initiative
Ash Doherty, CNC Quality Improvement and Innovation: Blue removal in ED
Facilitators:
Francesca Stafford is the Sustainability Manager at the Royal Children’s Hospital. With a background in Sustainability Consulting and project management, she balances the strategic development of campus-wide sustainability initiatives with the ability to implement projects to embed sustainability into everyday practice. A key part of her role is supporting and enabling grassroots sustainability projects, empowering staff across the organisation to lead innovative, locally driven change.
Dr Karen Kiang is a General Paediatrician at RCH and the Northern Hospital with a particular interest in how climate change and environmental degradation significantly impact children’s health and worsens equity gaps. She is the Clinical Lead in Sustainability at RCH, sits on the Climate and Sustainability Expert Advisory Group of Climate Health Victoria, and this year is a MACH Health Services Research Fellow conducting research on the environmental benefits of digital medicine and telehealth