Promoting sustainable development, strengthening local and national sustainability networks and partnerships, and reducing the NHS’s carbon footprint, are among the key topics set for discussion during a high profile conference to be staged jointly in Bradford by IHEEM’s Yorkshire Branch and the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust during this September’s British Science Festival.
Chairing and introducing the Sustainable Development Conference, being held on 15 September at the Bradford Royal Infirmary’s (BRI) Sovereign Lecture Theatre (see photos) during the 2011 British Science Festival (which is being hosted by the University of Bradford), will be IHEEM President, and director of NHS Estates & Facilities Scotland, Paul Kingsmore. The keynote speaker will be NHS Sustainable Development Unit director, Dr David Pencheon. (HEJ – April 2011). Other confirmed speakers include Professor of Architecture at Cambridge University, and lead investigator on the Design and Development of Robust Hospitals in a Changing Climate (DeDeRHECC) project, Alan Short (HEJ – June 2010); Carbon Trust NHS sector lead Tim Pryce; technical director at Philips UK, Mike Simpson, and Arup global healthcare director (and past Institute President), Phil Nedin. Attendance is free, but potential attendees must register with IHEEM Yorkshire Branch secretary David Craig at: david.craig@hdpl.co.uk by 9 August, and places are strictly limited. Event organiser Ian Hinitt, the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s deputy director of estates, and IHEEM Yorkshire Branch chair, added: “The conference aims to promote debate about how we can re-think the ways we work to benefit the environment by redesigning and revolutionising materials, systems and services, work ethics, and organisational culture. It will also focus on what more the NHS can do nationally on sustainability, and highlight the outstanding progress made here in Bradford, which has put us at the forefront of NHS efforts on this front.” David Craig added: “We hope to build on the considerable success of the 2009 IHEEM Environment and Sustainability Conference at the BRI. The event is part of the British Science Festival – one of Europe’s largest – this year taking place in Bradford from 10-15 September. It also coincides with the Foundation Trust’s ‘Open Week’ of events and AGM, with the former this year including a sustainabilitythemed procurement exhibition at which suppliers to the hospitals will be showcasing their products and services.”
