Hospital Co-Designs Reusable Theatre Caps Made from Plant-Based Material

The project aims to reduce waste created by single-use disposable theatre cap products.

Low Res Theatre Hats
Marsaili Mainz

The Golden Jubilee University National Hospital has become the first hospital to co-design friendly and reusable theatre caps made from sustainable plant-based material as part of a research project being led by the University of Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt University.

The project aims to reduce waste created by single-use disposable theatre cap products used by NHS Scotland while alleviating patient anxiety and improving the identification of theatre staff roles.

Around 800,000 single-use disposable theatre caps are consumed every year in Scottish hospitals. The new caps are made from cellulosic fibre which is derived from plant-based material. They offer a sustainable alternative to traditional disposable options.

At the end of their lifecycle, the new reusable theatre caps will be biodegradable, reducing the environmental impact of medical waste. Some existing single use theatre caps contain materials that can take up to 300 years to decompose entirely.

Beyond their eco-friendly credentials, the theatre caps serve multiple practical purposes. They aim to relieve anxiety among patients, through the use of fabric colours and patterns and help staff to more easily identify each other in busy clinical environments, which is beneficial for patient care. Current headwear doesn't differentiate between different roles in hospitals.

The theatre caps have been carefully designed with input from NHS Golden Jubilee theatre staff to ensure they meet practical needs while maintaining sustainability goals. Staff will now test and feedback on the innovative caps to assess their potential for wider adoption across NHS Scotland.

The theatre cap project is part of the broader Design HOPES project (Healthy Organizations in a Place-based Ecosystem, Scotland) which is led by Professor Paul Rodgers at the University of Strathclyde and Professor Mel Woods at the University of Dundee. Design HOPES was recently awarded more than £4.6M by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as one of four Green Transition Ecosystem (GTE) Hubs in the UK, which aim to address distinct challenges posed by the climate crisis including, but not limited to, realizing net zero goals.

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