NHS Trusts and healthcare organisations from across England assembled in London on 17 October to witness the official launch of NHS Sustainability Day 2014, which IHEEM is supporting, and for which Health Estate Journal is the official media partner.
The organisers, 4 All of Us, said: “It was a day of passionate presentations and even more enthusiastic speakers.”
The launch, held in the Great Hall at Barts Hospital, began with a welcome from Trevor Payne, director of Estates and Facilities at Barts Health, and the brainchild of the Day for the past three years, after which Rick Walker, CSR senior manager, NHS England, spoke on the corporate social responsibility the organisation has to support sustainable healthcare. There followed presentations by the award-winners at last year’s NHS Sustainability Day, including a compelling case study by Lancashire Care Trust, on how its community sustainability programme had supported patients and those with mental health issues, and a presentation by University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust on a commonly missed issue – ‘Anaesthesia-related electrical energy use and anaesthetic gas scavenging’.
Following a further case study from Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust, Andy Jones, national chairman of the Hospital Caterers Association, discussed ‘the urgent need to re-address the way we source our food and how it is packaged in hospitals’, and Carillion described its work with Barts Health in both environmental performance and community programmes.
The presentations concluded with Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor David Walker, explaining how the Department of Health is focusing on sustainability in healthcare, and the good practice examples it is seeing from across Europe.
Trevor Payne closed the proceedings by presenting the 2013 awards to a number of English NHS Trusts for their ‘continuous development of sustainable practices’.
The 2013 award winners were:
• Clinical Engagement Initiative, sponsored by Skanska – University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust;
• Biodiversity Initiative, sponsored by NHS Forest – St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust;
• Sustainable Food Initiative, sponsored by ISS Facilities Services – Lambeth Clinical Commissioning Group;
• Carbon Reduction Initiative, sponsored by Low Carbon Europe – Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust;
• Energy Reduction Initiative, sponsored by 5th Energy – Southend University Hospital NHS Trust;
• Sustainable Travel Initiative, sponsored by Certero – South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust;
• Waste and Recycling Initiative, sponsored by Sust-n – Isle of Wight NHS Trust;
• Community Engagement Initiative, sponsored by Carillion –
Lancashire Care NHS Trust; and
• Best Overall Project Initiative, sponsored by British Gas – Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust.
For further information on a series of NHS Sustainability Day 2014 roadshows being held countywide (the next will be held on 4 December in Liverpool), visit: www.nhssustainabilityday.co.uk
