The 2022 Sustainability Agenda
Last year was a great challenge within many sectors, more so than any, the NHS. Even so, we witnessed some amazing progress in sustainability within the public health as well as a growth of innovative products and services opening new doors for the NHS.
As we look forward to more growth in 2022, we kicked off this year with a webinar inviting NHS professionals to discuss their journeys so far and what they believe is to come over the next year.
A Prosperous 2021
Our webinar was kicked off by our host and Co-Founder Georgia Halston, who gave an overview of the Sustainability Partnerships achievements in 2021 including:
13 events ran with 1,403 sign-ups
4,480 additional social media followers
1,500 newsletter sign-ups
Over 20,000 users to the new website!
Alexandra Hammond, Head of Sustainable Procurement and Supply Chain at NHS England and NHS Improvement
“We have a mission and a vision to have an NHS that is free of modern slavery and is net-zero with a fair and transparent supply chain by 2045.”
Our first panellist of the day was Alexandra Hammond. Alexandra’s talk focussed on the current state of the NHS’s supply chain and what is to come in the future for her department and team. She stated the main three focus areas are modern slavery, net-zero and social value. Alexandra spoke about how her team has grown exponentially from one to 14 within the past 12 months.
She explained that the NHS’s suppliers create around 62% of the NHS’s total carbon footprint before explaining what must be done to improve these figures. She spoke to event attendees about the need to get suppliers on board with future plans, with new regulations in which suppliers will be required to provide lifecycle analysis that are due to come into effect in 2028.
“In procurement, we have around 16,500 kilo tonnes of carbon sitting in the supply chain and scope three emissions, which is not where we want to be. We cannot decarbonise the NHS by ourselves. We need to challenge our suppliers to support us and get on board.”
Elaine Winkley, Consultant Anaesthetist, Clinical Lead for Sustainability, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Chair of Faculty of Sustainable Healthcare
“I became passionate through acknowledgement of the figures. Working within an operating theatre, I got a first-hand look as to what was going wrong with our waste streams.”
Our second speaker was Elaine Winkley. Elaine began her presentation explaining how she became so passionate about the NHS’s need to operate more sustainably.
She spoke through the work she has been a part of with a variation of NHS organisations and what their journey has been like so far. She touched on the need for a huge reduction in the use of single-use plastics within the NHS, particularly within operating theatres. As well as the need for creating greener anaesthetic departments with a focus on gases.
“We have introduced plastic recycling and a greater focus on the items we are procuring. For example, we now source masks that don’t include plastic rings.”
Will Blair, Sustainability Manager, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
“This became quite frustrating as we weren’t really making an impact within the wider areas of sustainability.”
Our third speaker was Will Blair. Will focussed his presentation on his personal experience growing a sustainability department within the NHS. He explained how he initially worked solely within sustainable transport but felt that this alone was not enough.
He talked through the Trust’s corporate approach and listed what steps had been taken to push their agenda forward including:
“Training was and is high up on our agenda, our initial discovery was that people felt as though there was a misunderstanding on the link between healthcare and sustainability”
Sustainable Development Management Plan
Net Zero Board Lead
Carbon Literacy Programme
Sustainability Impact Assessments
Quality Improvement Training
Will spoke about their big focus on education within the Trust and how this, alongside a community approach in speaking to and learning from other local Trusts, has bounced them in the right direction.
Joaquim Duarte, Senior Sustainable Waste Manager, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
“It is predicted that there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish by 2050, this is extremely alarming, and the NHS needs to focus on their impact.”
Our final speaker of the day was Joaquim Duarte. Joe spoke to us through his Trust’s journey so far and their goals to reduce their use of single-use plastics. He began with an explanation of the effect which plastics are having on our planet and some expectations on how it may affect us in years to come.
Joe spoke to attendees about which areas of the NHS were typically the highest users of single-use plastics and explained how the Trust were working with these particular departments to reduce their overall impact. Joe’s overview of the Trusts journey so far covered a range of data and future plans.
“Operating theatres are one of the most resource intensive areas of a hospital, generating as much as 40% of hospital waste. Much of this is single-use plastics.”
This webinar discussed the future of sustainability in the NHS and what is expected to happen in 2022 as progress is made in the sustainability agenda. Development of alternatives and enacting change within our healthcare system will require collaborative approaches. If you would like more information, please contact us.