The Sustainability Day of Action: The Sustainability Challenges Faced in the NHS
Our flagship day of action event returned with a bang for 2022! Highlighting the importance of sustainable development across the breadth of the NHS and celebrating the impressive steps that have already been taken. The day aims to inspire and provide insight to NHS professionals across the country and this year, we did just that!
For the Day of Action this year we provided not one, but TWO webinars: ‘The Sustainability Challenges Faces in the NHS’ and ‘Cutting Edge Green Solutions’.
Our first event of the day saw NHS professionals from a range of departments come together to discuss their sustainability journeys so far and the challenges they have faced along the way.
Richard Nixon, Consultant at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust and Co-Founder of Healthcare Ocean
Our first speaker of the day was Richard Nixon, who focussed his presentation on the effects of human healthcare on our oceans. Richard spoke to attendees about the incredible role the oceans play in our survival and how they are one of our most vital tools in the fight against global warming.
“The oceans are amazing. They absorb 90% of the heat that we have generated through global warming. They give us so much, but we give so little in return.”
“Through healthcare, we provide lots of macro and molecular pollution in the form of pharmaceuticals metabolites and microplastics. We find these microplastics ending up in food, and they have now been found in human blood. Which we doubt will be positive.”
He then went on to talk about how our actions in polluting the planet and turning our oceans into what Richard described as a ‘chemical soup’ have begun to degrade our oceans and how this has caused us to lose 50% of our photosynthesising biomass over the past 70 years. He then went on to speak about how healthcare directly is affecting the health of our oceans.
Richard brought some incredibly interesting facts and statistics to present to our attendees to shed light on our effects on the oceans.
Catch up with Richard’s slides here.
Anna-Lisa Mills, Programme Manager Sustainability at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Our next speaker was Anna-Lisa Mills, who spoke to us about a recent case study from Newcastle Hospitals on how they have been working to promote sustainability within their supply chain. She explained the complications and pressures felt by Newcastle Hospitals 3400 suppliers and how this affects them in their sustainability journey.
“Even from outside of the NHS, there are financial pressures, there’s government procurement, social value act and more!”
“Step three is incredibly important; measure and report your carbon footprint! We can see our full carbon footprint, everything from our direct to indirect energy consumption and we find this incredibly useful within our training.”
Anna-Lisa then went on to talk the attendees through the five-step framework put together from improving supplier engagement in their sustainability goals. From supporting webinars to help educate suppliers to platforms where they could share their feelings on their experience, there were some fantastic tactics shared.
Anna-Lisa finished with the lasting statement that within the NHS, we cannot achieve net-zero without engagement from suppliers. You can catch up on Anna-Lisa’s presentation slides here.
James Bate, Senior Project Manager, Greener NHS, NHS England & NHS Improvement, South East Region
Net up we had James Bate from Greener NHS join us to talk about how net-zero can be delivered across an ICS. James kicked off his talk by explaining what an ICS is and the role they play across the NHS in promoting a collaborative approach.
“An ICS is formed by a group of NHS providers and local authorities that are expected to work together and collaborate.”
“Sustainability from the top is often seen as a tick-box exercise and a nice thing to do. But what we need is to really be getting that top-down support. We need communication across various networks and system partners.”
James covered the challenges that Trusts have previously faced in their sustainability journeys in working in isolation and how ICSs come into play to combat this challenge. He spoke about how this affects Trusts development of green plans and their abilities to learn from one another and work together. In addition, he spoke about the need for commitment to come from both the top and bottom of the network.
James finished off his presentation by explaining his personal role is supporting ICSs in implementing their green plans through funding projects, facilitating discussions and assuring sustainable performance. Catch up on James’ slides here.
Dr. Ben Rusholme, GP at West End Surgery
Dr. Ben next up in our line of speakers for the webinar and he gave us his unique views on NHS sustainability from the viewpoint of a GP practice. He spoke about the group of GPs across the country that he is part of who look to focus on sustainability issues within his sector of the NHS.
“It seems to me that over the recent years we’ve become increasingly aware of the environmental impact of our work. For example, we prescribe a lot of medicines and that makes up the majority of our carbon footprint.”
“I may not have come in this morning and burnt a load of fossil fuels. But I know I’ve prescribed medicines, I’ve used plastic gloves, things like that.”
He spoke about the general effect that GP practices have on the environment, from medicines prescribed down to things as small as the carbon emissions created from patients driving to and from appointments at the surgery.
Dr.Ben gave us fantastic insight from a point of view we have not heard from on our previous webinars. Catch up on everything Dr.Ben spoke about in his presentation by viewing his slides here.
Susie Vernon, Care without Carbon Team, Sussex Community NHS
Our final speaker for our morning webinar was Susie Vernon. Susie works within the Care without Carbon programme to deliver net-zero carbon and sustainability programmes for NHS Trusts in Sussex and spoke about the programme’s sustainability journey so far.
“We’ve covered a huge range of different areas over the last ten to twelve years.”
She spoke about the importance of things like understanding carbon footprints in detail to Trusts to identify how they should appropriately prioritise action to promote a more sustainable future.
“Understanding your own carbon footprint in detail is important in order to be able to then identify how you’re going to prioritise action. We know from this analysis that around 80% of our carbon is driven by clinical decisions, so engaging organisations is critical.”
She spoke about the framework they have developed and how this has really aided them in boosting their sustainability journey. Catch up on Susie’s slides here.
This webinar discussed NHS professionals’ journeys towards sustainability and their experiences and challenges within this. A collaborative approach and knowledge sharing is vital in our goals to promote a greener future within our healthcare system. If you would be interested in speaking on one of our future webinars and or would like to share your own story, please do not hesitate to get in contact.