Hospital to stop using laughing gas pipeline
Piped nitrous oxide will no longer be used at Guernsey's hospital due to the threat it poses to the environment, medics have said.
The Medical Specialist Group said nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, would not be used in theatres via a pipeline at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
Consultant anaesthetist Dr Graham Beck said the gas could still be administered from cylinders.
Excess nitrous oxide in the atmosphere contributes to rising global temperatures because it is a greenhouse gas, like carbon dioxide and methane.
'Improved' anaesthetics
Mr Beck, the anaesthetic department’s environmental champion, said he was "delighted" with the change.
"This is the second major change to reduce our environmental impact after desflurane [another anaesthetic] was removed last year," he said.
"Anaesthetic practice has evolved and improved over recent years to rely on more modern volatile anaesthetics, intravenous anaesthetic techniques and regional anaesthetic administration which improve patient care as well as reducing harm to the planet."
Nitrous oxide has not been banned for medical use and there is no legal requirement to decommission the pipeline.
However, Mr Beck said the hospital's total use of nitrous oxide would be "greatly reduced" by administering it directly from cylinders.
He added he was "committed to introduce further reductions in our environmental impact over the coming years".
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