VGH anesthetic gas scavenging makes a big impact

Anesthetic gas is administered in operating rooms when a patient is put to sleep before an operation. The exhaled and leftover anesthetic gas from each patient’s procedure is collected and travels through tubes to the basement of the hospital, where it is filtered by a halogenated drug recovery system into large metal propane-style tanks, allowing clean air to be released back into the environment. 

If not properly managed, these gases can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution. By integrating these systems into the hospital's ventilation networks, health-care facilities can significantly reduce their environmental footprint. 

Since fall 2021, the anesthetic gases captured and filtered at VGH are equivalent to the environmental impact of:

• charging 10 million smartphones;
• driving a gas-powered car more than 500,000 kilometres;
• or powering 17 homes for a year

This new system is part of the hospital’s operating room renewal project, which featured 16 state-of-the-art operating rooms and a 40-bay pre-operative and post-recovery area, and includes funding from the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. The gas filtering system was a pilot project and is now fully implemented at VGH. Lions Gate Hospital also recently installed a similar system at the new Paul Myers Tower.

VCH is committed to embedding planetary health principles, from our business practices to facilities management and delivering care. 

By collaborating with partners and teams from sustainable clinical services, public health, and energy and environmental sustainability, we are delivering more resilient and environmentally sustainable care.