Since launching the Sustainable and Quality use of Diagnostics in Emergency Departments (SQuDs-ED) project in April 2025, we have worked with 11 health services to actively test and implement improvements across 19 emergency departments in regional Victorian and metropolitan Melbourne.
Our impact to date
- 120,000+ unnecessary procedures avoided
- $2.42M saved
- 29,000+ kg CO2e prevented – roughly four trips around the Earth avoided in emissions!
The SQuDs-ED initiative has meant thousands of consumers have avoided low value diagnostic pathology, imaging and interventions. Pathology and imaging alone contributes up to 9% of healthcare’s carbon footprint and when not required, can expose consumers to potential harm from unwarranted interventions or radiation exposure. Unnecessary procedures can also impact hospital flow, time spent in the emergency department and patient experience.
We extend our sincere thanks to the following participating health services, who are leading the way in reducing healthcare’s environmental footprint:
- Albury Wodonga Health
- Alfred Health
- Austin Health (pictured above)
- Barwon Health
- Central Gippsland Health Service
- Eastern Health
- Echuca Regional Health
- Monash Health
- Peninsula Health
- the Royal Melbourne Hospital
- Western Health.
Your efforts in the SQuDs-ED initiative is a prime example of how sustainability work can go hand-in-hand with providing high quality patient care and delivering financial savings.
