‘No laughing matter’: Limerick hospital scraps use of ‘laughing gas’ following concerns

ST JOHN’S Hospital recently became the first healthcare facility in the Mid-West region, and among the first in the country, to end the large-scale use of nitrous oxide gas for anaesthesia. 

As part of a Midwest pilot project, the extensive pipework supplying the gas to operating theatres in St John’s was decommissioned on April 16, ushering in the use of new mobile equipment to bring anaesthetic cylinders directly to theatre. 

St John’s is the first healthcare facility in the Mid-West and among the first hospitals in the country to take this step as a response to global warming.

Known as ‘laughing gas’ and once regarded as relatively harmless, nitrous oxide is no longer a laughing matter. It is recognised as an extremely potent and long-lasting greenhouse gas by a variety of international agencies and professional bodies, including the College of Anaesthesiology of Ireland.

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Consultant anaesthetist, Dr Hugh O’Callaghan, who led the pilot projects for theregion, says the initial signs from St John’s alone are encouraging. 

“The Climate Action Strategy has the ambitious goal of reducing the emissions associated with anaesthetic gases by 50% by 2030.  St John’s Hospital is now at the forefront of the national efforts to reduce these emissions.

“We have a responsibility to provide care as safely as possible for patients, while considering the impacts on staff and the wider environment. Nitrous oxide is safe to use but the infrastructure used to deliver it inevitably results in waste. 

“We now have more modern techniques which means that as time goes on nitrous oxide is gradually becoming obsolete. There is a global effort to reduce anaesthetic gas emissions, and St John’s Hospital has been leading the way in this effort.”

It is hoped that the decommissioning of systems at other hospitals in the Mid-West will follow within the coming months, pending full evaluation of the pilot initiatives.

Michelle Rogers, director of operations, St John’s Hospital, said: “There have been ambitious targets set at national level and I am delighted that St John’s is now firmly on track to achieve these.”