About the Project

More than 2.4 million single-use disposable theatre caps were used across Scottish hospitals between September 2022 and September 2023. In landfill, these caps can each take up to 300 years to disappear. Introducing single plant-based material, reusable theatre caps have the potential to eliminate this waste entirely, reduce costs, and generate new “green” manufacturing jobs in Scotland.

In collaboration with NHS Scotland staff and using a range of creative design research methods, we have co-designed a range of reusable theatre caps that are personalised with each staff member’s name and role. This not only reduces waste but also improves patient safety, promotes better staff communication, and incident management.

Over 1,000 reusable theatre caps have now been designed and manufactured for NHS Scotland staff across 11 health boards. Following initial co-design workshops, focused on meeting staff and patient needs, these theatre caps have gone through rigorous testing to establish their capacity for reuse. The reusable theatre caps have gone through over 500 washing cycles, which means that one reusable theatre cap eliminates 500+ single-use disposable caps.

“Our NHS Scotland colleagues have commented on the greater sense of identity and dignity in their new Design HOPES reusable theatre caps.”

— Jonathan O’Reilly, Head of Quality Improvement, NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital