Three key areas tackled en route to Net Zero Carbon

In January 2020, just over a year ago, in a world before COVID-19 wasn’t in the daily headlines, the NHS launched the For a greener NHS programme, setting out on a journey to understand how we move the health and care system, responsible for an estimated 4-5 per cent of the country’s carbon footprint, to ‘net zero carbon’. The first step was to establish an expert panel to chart a practical route map, and on 1 October 2020, while we were beginning to face the second wave of COVID, the panel published its first report, Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service. Importantly, it reflected on the burden that coronavirus has placed on the NHS, and how it has been exacerbated and amplified by wider, deep-seated social, economic, and health concerns. It also highlighted how one of the most significant of these concerns is the climate emergency, and the health emergency1 it represents, and made no apologies for pushing for progress in this area while still continuing to confront coronavirus.

At the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, which brings together the Salford Royal and Pennine Acute Trusts, our reflection on the report is that there are three key areas we need to focus on: 

Setting out our direction