Commenting on the strategy, Dr Mark Harber, special adviser on healthcare sustainability and climate change at the RCP, said:

“The NHS, like most health services, generates a huge amount of waste related to day-to-day practice. Only a relatively small proportion of this waste is recycled with most of it either going to landfill or incineration, both of which have very major environmental impacts. 

“Shifting towards a circular system for medical devices that enables them to be reused, remanufactured, or recycled will have a significant effect on the environmental impact of the NHS without compromising patient care. The NHS has set a goal of being the first net zero health service in the world, and the government's announcement today will hopefully contribute to that ambition.”

Also responding to the strategy, Professor Tom Solomon, academic vice president at the RCP, said:

“We very much welcome the publication of the ‘Design for Life’ roadmap by the government. Our current over-reliance on single use med-tech products is expensive, wasteful, not sustainable, and leaves us vulnerable to supply chain issues. This was starkly demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic when we struggled to maintain the supply of critical items.

“College fellows are at the forefront of the MedTech, Data and AI revolution, working with colleagues in academia and industry to develop solutions to the many challenges the NHS faces today, including wasteful single-use products. Changing procurement guidance to incentivise reuseable products will be a vital part of this. We look forward to working with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, the devolved authorities, and other stakeholders to bring about these greatly needed changes.”