The implementation of Quick Response codes to access patient information leaflets: A quality improvement project

Sustainability within healthcare is a concept focused on meeting the health needs of the current generation without comprising the needs of future generations1, by using the available environmental, financial and social resources in an efficient and effective way. The National Health Service (NHS) is the biggest public greenhouse gas emitter in the UK producing20 million tons of carbon emissions per year2. Consequently, the NHS Scotland Climate EmergencyStrategy3 has set out plans to provide healthcare through sustainable pathways. The benefits of sustainability can be assessed through the ‘triple bottom line approach’2, by trying to minimise the financial and environmental cost, while adding a positive social value. The Orthodontic department at Dundee Dental Hospital and Research School (DDH&RS) provides paper patient information leaflets (PIL). This produces a carbon footprint on the environment and has financial implications. Paper leaflets can also be lost after they have been given to a patient. Therefore, the environmental, social and financial resources are intrinsically linked to the use of paper PIL, so it maybe argued we have a moral and ethical responsibility to change our practices to promote and deliver sustainable healthcare.