Competition winning nurse shows the benefits of cutting caffeine to improve patient wellbeing

A month-long trial at Northampton General Hospital, which involved switching patients and staff to decaffeinated tea and coffee, has shown promising results for elderly patients. Led by Infection Prevention and Control Nurse Jasmine Lowdon, the trial revealed significant findings including elderly patients experiencing better sleep and reduced incontinence.

Jasmine explained, “The trial involved switching patient tea trolleys from caffeinated to decaffeinated coffee and tea. Caffeine is a stimulant that increases urinary frequency, particularly affecting the elderly, as it takes 30% longer to clear from their liver and is linked to falls. The results were staggering. I hoped for a 15% improvement in incontinence, but we achieved three to four times that. Falls dropped by 57%, and patients' sleep dramatically improved. The more we researched, the more we found that switching to decaf significantly improved patient outcomes.”

As a result of Jasmine’s trial, it’s predicted that the switch to decaffeinated drinks could save the hospital 24,909 kilograms of carbon dioxide which would be the CO2 equivalent to fuel emissions from driving 73,393 miles.

The trial was entered into the hospital’s Green Team competition, which is held annually at NGH in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. The competition gives staff at NGH the opportunity to research ideas with tailored expert support, to provide more sustainable healthcare, and improve outcomes for patients.

Head of Sustainability at NGH, Clare Topping explained why this competition is so important: “The Green Team Awards are the thing I’m most proud of introducing. It gives everybody a chance to make a change in their own area, everything that we’ve done over the past three years as showcased today is better for patients as well as saving money and reducing environmental impact. It allows people to make a change. We’ve gone on to do so many things afterwards and it’s such a great way of engaging teams.”

Jasmine added, “This competition is a fantastic opportunity to think outside the box. Every day, we deal with problems, but we need to start preventing them from happening in the first place. This competition allows us to make real patient efficiency savings, help the environment, and improve patient safety.”