The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) wants all NHS organisations to sign up to the Good Corporate Citizenship model, an “online sustainable toolkit” developed with the NHS Sustainable Development Unit.
The Good Corporate Citizenship website allows health professionals to rate their organisation’s sustainability, and provides best practice case studies, discussion forums, and “a challenging self-assessment tool”. Will Day, SDC chair, said: “The model provides tools and information to make all areas of operations more sustainable, and we’ve already seen it work. Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, for instance, multiplied its recycling by 15 times in a year, saving over £150,000 by diverting it from landfill and generating income from waste metal.” Other SDC-cited sustainability examples include:
• Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has “nearly tripled” the number of staff walking to work since 1993.
• NHS Camden’s Kentish Town Integrated Health Centre is “12 times more energy- efficient” than its predecessor.
• South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust “almost halved” CO2 emissions within 5 years; a quarter of its energy now comes from renewable sources.
