{"id":52458,"date":"2026-01-05T08:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/?p=52458"},"modified":"2026-01-05T16:15:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T16:15:33","slug":"article-4-sustainability-in-neonatal-vascular-access-can-longline-catheters-support-greener-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/articles\/article-4-sustainability-in-neonatal-vascular-access-can-longline-catheters-support-greener-healthcare\/","title":{"rendered":"Article 4: Sustainability in Neonatal Vascular Access: Can Longline Catheters Support Greener Healthcare?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sustainability is becoming a critical priority in healthcare, driven by ambitious targets such as the NHS commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2040 and the EU Green Deal objectives. Medical devices contribute significantly to the healthcare sector\u2019s carbon footprint, with single-use plastics being a major concern. Within neonatal care, vascular access is an area where sustainability considerations are gaining attention. Longline catheters may offer an opportunity to reduce environmental impact while maintaining clinical effectiveness. This aligns with NHS Greener Healthcare initiatives<sup>1<\/sup> and the Design for Life<sup>2<\/sup> roadmap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Current Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Neonatal vascular access typically involves three main options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Umbilical catheters: These are used for short-term access but often require frequent replacement, generating high levels of waste.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Peripheral IV cannulas: These have a short lifespan and involve multiple disposables, leading to repeated material use.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Longline catheters: These are designed for prolonged therapy and require fewer replacements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Using longlines reduces the need for multiple peripheral cannulas, helping to cut overall material use and minimise waste.<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Environmental Impact of Catheters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Single-use devices generate significant plastic waste, and materials such as PVC and additives such as DEHP<sup>4 <\/sup>raise both health and environmental concerns<sup>5<\/sup>. Life Cycle Assessment studies indicate that reusable or hybrid kits can cut carbon footprints by up to 90 per cent compared to single-use alternatives<sup>5<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Longlines Support Sustainability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Longline catheters offer several sustainability advantages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fewer device changes: A single longline can remain in place for 7 to 14 days, reducing the need for multiple peripheral cannula insertions and associated consumables.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lower packaging waste: Compared to repeated short-term devices, longlines generate less packaging waste.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Longline catheters can play a meaningful role in reducing waste and supporting sustainability goals by minimising device turnover. However, further innovation and policy alignment are essential to maximise their environmental benefits without compromising patient safety. Life-cycle costing should become a standard part of procurement decisions, and collaboration between clinicians, manufacturers and sustainability teams will be key to achieving Net Zero targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NHS England. Delivering a net zero NHS [Internet]. NHS England; 2025 [cited 2025 Dec 16]. Available from: https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/greenernhs\/a-net-zero-nhs\/<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>European Commission. Design for Life roadmap: the government\u2019s plan to build a circular economy for medical technology [Internet]. UK: Department of Health and Social Care; 2024 [cited 2025 Dec 16]. Available from: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/design-for-life-roadmap\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/design-for-life-roadmap<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>UC Davis Health. NICU Vascular Access Procedures [Internet]. Sacramento (CA): UC Davis Health; 2023 [cited 2025 Dec 16]. Available from: <a href=\"https:\/\/health.ucdavis.edu\/media-resources\/pediatrics\/documents\/pdfs\/clinical-guidelines\/procedures-nicu-vascular-access.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/health.ucdavis.edu\/media-resources\/pediatrics\/documents\/pdfs\/clinical-guidelines\/procedures-nicu-vascular-access.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>RTI International. The health risks of DEHP in medical devices [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2025 Dec 16]. Available from: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rti.org\/insights\/dehp-medical-device-health-risk-alternatives\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.rti.org\/insights\/dehp-medical-device-health-risk-alternatives<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>HealthcareLCA. The environmental impact of single\u2011use, hybrid and reusable central venous catheter insertion kits [Internet]. HealthcareLCA; 2023 [cited 2025 Dec 16]. Available from: <a href=\"https:\/\/healthcarelca.com\/alerts\/the-environmental-impact-of-single-use-hybrid-and-reusable-central-venous-catheter-insertion-kits\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/healthcarelca.com\/alerts\/the-environmental-impact-of-single-use-hybrid-and-reusable-central-venous-catheter-insertion-kits<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sustainability is becoming a critical priority in healthcare, driven by ambitious targets such as the NHS commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2040 and the EU Green Deal objectives. Medical devices contribute significantly to the healthcare sector\u2019s carbon footprint, with single-use plastics being a major concern. Within neonatal care, vascular access is an area where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":52460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-life-of-a-neonatal-longline-catheter"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52458"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52461,"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52458\/revisions\/52461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/campusvygon.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}