SMART Operating Theatres & Net Zero | Brandon Medical

SMART Operating Theatres & Net Zero: Turning Ambition into Action

As healthcare systems worldwide accelerate towards Net Zero, operating theatres have emerged as both a challenge and an opportunity. Highly technical, equipment-dense and energy-intensive, theatres sit at the heart of hospital carbon reduction strategies — and at the centre of meaningful clinical innovation.

In 2026, Brandon Medical is proud to be supporting this transformation at two key industry events: World Health Expo 2026 in Dubai and the Salford Operating Theatres Conference in Manchester. Together, these platforms reflect a shared global and UK focus on SMART, climate-smart operating theatres powered by science, technology and digital insight.

Climate-Smart Healthcare: From Policy to Practice

Climate-smart healthcare integrates sustainability into every layer of healthcare delivery — from infrastructure and technology to clinical workflows and decision-making. Its goal is clear: improve patient outcomes while reducing environmental impact.

Key principles include:

• Circular economy thinking, reducing waste and improving resource efficiency

• Net-zero carbon strategies, through energy-efficient technologies and smarter system design

• Sustainable infrastructure, supporting long-term resilience

• Adaptation and resilience, ensuring healthcare environments remain robust in the face of climate change

Operating theatres play a critical role in all four.

The Operating Theatre: A High-Impact Environment

Operating rooms are among the most energy-intensive spaces in a hospital. Lighting, imaging, ventilation, tables, audiovisual systems and specialist equipment all run concurrently — often without visibility of real-time energy usage or system efficiency.

While hospitals increasingly invest in sustainable buildings and renewable energy, the data gap inside the OR remains a key barrier to achieving measurable Net Zero outcomes.

SMART Operating Theatres: Where Digital Transformation Delivers Impact

SMART operating theatres address this challenge by connecting systems, capturing data and enabling intelligent control of the surgical environment.

At World Health Expo 2026, Brandon Medical will be showcasing a fully integrated SMART Operating Theatre ecosystem, demonstrating how connected technologies — from surgical lighting and operating tables to PACS and theatre control — can work together as a single intelligent system.

At the Salford Operating Theatres Conference, the focus shifts to the UK context, where NHS trusts are actively balancing sustainability targets with safety, efficiency, staff wellbeing and patient outcomes.

Across both events, the message is the same: SMART integration enables sustainable action.

Intelligent Theatre Control: Turning Data into Decarbonisation

A core enabler of climate-smart operating theatres is intelligent theatre control.

By acting as both a control surface and data-gathering platform, modern theatre control systems allow hospitals to:

• Monitor real-time power usage within the OR

• Understand how equipment, lighting and environments are used

• Integrate theatre data with building management systems

• Identify inefficiencies, reduce waste and support evidence-based decisions

This data-led approach allows sustainability improvements to be made without compromising clinical performance — a critical requirement for operating theatres.