Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust is maximising the opportunity to reuse office furniture and equipment as it relocates a Chesterfield-based vaccination centre onto one of its hospital sites.

The vaccination centre, which is currently located at Chesterfield’s Winding Wheel theatre, will be brought to Walton Hospital by August 2021. The move comes as the Trust will use empty space created in the hospital following the relocation of its HR, finance, and procurement departments and coincides with the planned reopening of the theatre for performances as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Mark Armstrong-Read leads on sustainability within Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust and is supporting the redistribution of furniture and office equipment in the hospital building using the Warp It system.

Mark said: “As part of our wider sustainability strategy we have been moving to a more agile model of working for a few years now. Introducing remote working across the Trust has been part of this strategic plan and means we can set up the new vaccination centre in the vacant space we have created.”

Prior to the overhaul of the building, the Trust decided to use the Warp It redistribution system to rehome the furniture and office equipment that had been left behind. Mark explained: 

“We only become Warp It members in September 2019 and because of the Covid-19 pandemic the use of the system temporarily stopped, so this is a great opportunity to reboot it and get it working for a really great cause.

“So far, we already have over 120 items on the system, including office desks, filing cabinets, chairs, and noticeboards. We anticipate that there will be many more items added very swiftly as we work through everything, and the renovations for the vaccination centre rapidly progress.”

The trust is also seeing the reuse community within the Trust swiftly grow as staff recognise the benefits and get involved.

Mark said: “One of the most useful features that Warp It offers is the ability to claim items for personal use. In our case, this has proven very helpful as the ability to redistribute items within the Trust is relatively limited because we have less need of large office furniture with more people working at home or from a non-fixed base.

"Desks, for example, now need to be much smaller to fit into allocated office space; however, these larger items are often wanted by staff for their personal use at home.”

The Trust also plans to reuse as much furniture as possible for the vaccination centre itself, including wipeable chairs and tables, and will only buy new where this isn’t possible.

Mark concluded:

“We will reuse wherever we can and the Warp It system is helping us to do this easily. It’s a fantastic system and we have already saved a great deal from going to landfill by rehoming items within the trust or with staff for personal use in just a few weeks. Next, we will be coordinating redistributing efforts even further afield, including local charities and other organisations.”