Resilience, a UK government initiative, says its use of VR will reduce travel and waste
The recently launched government-funded medicines manufacturing skills project, Resilience, has said its use of virtual reality (VR) technology to train for working in the sector will help the NHS reach its net zero carbon emissions target.
In 2020, the NHS became the world’s first health service to commit to reaching net zero. For the emissions it controls directly (the NHS Carbon Footprint), the aim is to reach net zero by 2040, with an intermediate target of an 80% reduction by 2028 to 2032.
It’s a hugely ambitious target. According to a report by the BMA from June last year, “the health service contributes around 4-5% of total UK carbon emissions and the NHS in England alone is responsible for 40% of the public sector’s emissions”.
Launched in April last year, Resilience is a two year, £4.3 million project, managed by Innovate UK, that aims to fill the skills gap in advanced medicines manufacturing. It is based in several universities across the UK and focuses on STEM outreach programmes to engage, excite and enable young people to work in the sector.
VR is a key part of the programme as it means training can be delivered without the need to interrupt work in real labs and manufacturing facilities; in addition, it can be delivered anywhere, at any time, and no expensive materials are consumed.
Professor Ivan Wall of the University of Birmingham, co-director of Resilience, said; “VR technology is advancing rapidly, and the ability to recreate in detail real-world environments means we can deliver high-value training without the need to be in those environments.
“This cuts dramatically the need for travel, a major source of emissions, and additionally means we don’t consume expensive and potentially environmentally harmful materials, such as single-use plastics.”
A report by the Faculty of Public Health claims there are over 9.5bn NHS-related road miles per year in England, around 3.5% of all road travel in England.
In simple terms, VR is a computer-generated environment with scenes and objects that appear to be real, making the user feel immersed in that environment. The key technology is the VR headset, which covers the eyes and ears and effectively blanks out the real world.
Critically, the computer-generated environment can be an exact replica of a real-world environment; for Resilience, this is one of the most advanced facilities in the country, the Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult’s manufacturing centre in Stevenage.
The Resilience partner organisations deliver in-person and remote training courses in advanced laboratory and medicines manufacturing skills to schools, higher and further education colleges, universities and the NHS.
The biggest sources of carbon emissions in the NHS are widely recognised to be the supply chain, medicines (including anaesthetic gases and inhalers, which alone amount to one quarter of all NHS emissions) and travel – including staff and patient travel as well as the NHS’ vehicle fleet.
VR can help address some of these through enabling virtual clinics (reducing the need for travel) and medical training simulations (again, reducing travel as no need for real patients).
Professor Wall concluded; “The use of VR technology is central to our project, helping young people safely learn skills that it would be impractical to gain in the real world due to logistics and capacity.
“We can deliver training in schools and colleges or at any of our partner universities, cutting down the need for travel and avoiding unnecessary waste. Even better, VR is exciting; from our experiences so far, young people find it highly engaging, which helps attract them into this vital sector for the UK economy.”
To find out more about Resilience, please visit https://www.resilience-skills.com/ .