THE area's biggest hospitals are saving more than £80,000 a year by wasting less of the most commonly prescribed medicine - oxygen.
Colchester Hospitals Trust uses one million litres of oxygen a day.
In 2007, staff were wasting 319 cylinders of oxygen a day but that figure has now dropped to just six after after 2,500 nursing, pharmacy and midwifery staff got extra training.
In 2010, the trust spent £272,600 on medical gases. That was expected to fall to £190,000 last year, even though Colchester General and Essex County hospitals treated more patients.
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