Abstract for: Scaling up the share of circular medical consumables in the healthcare sector

Healthcare systems affect the environment negatively due to their use of resources. Thereby, a significant amount of waste is generated by single-use medical consumables. To reduce the impact, actions by various stakeholders such as hospitals, medical device suppliers or governments are required. In this study, the aim is to identify systemic barriers and enablers for scaling up the use of circular medical consumables within hospitals. The research approach consists of fact finding, a group model building process and model analysis. The fact finding phase includes a literature search, a stakeholder analysis and exploratory interviews. This phase results in a base model. The group model building process focuses on the perspectives of various stakeholders and their understanding of the system. Exploratory modelling and analysis is used to explore the uncertainties and to identify promising policy interventions. Currently, this research is at its start, mainly focusing on forming a system understanding through the fact finding process. Especially, the design of the group model building process will be influential for the success of this research. The group model building process will ideally give attention to opposing perspectives and underlying assumptions of stakeholders, such as the responsibilities of hospitals or medical device suppliers.