Allison Sathiyanathan
NHS Lancs and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board
NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) are responsible for the healthcare services provided across our region including those in hospitals and general practice.
In 2022, the National Health Service (NHS) became the first health system in the world to embed ‘net zero’ emission goals into legislation (Health and Care Act 2022).
To support the achievement of these goals, the ICB has developed a Green Plan with clear actions describing how we are going to move towards more sustainable healthcare and reduce our impact on the environment. Actions within our Green Plan include:
- Encourage sustainable travel for our staff and patients.
- Use IT to streamline patient care
- Waste reduction
- Energy efficiency of buildings
- Expansion of green space on healthcare sites
- Move to using more sustainable medicines
- Promote healthier sustainable food for staff and patients
Achievements so far:
- Initiatives established across our Trusts that aim to reduce the carbon footprint associated with each patient cared for include virtual wards, virtual outpatient appointments and a same day emergency care programme.
- Digitalisation of around 1.75 million primary care records saves the storage and admin costs associated with paper records and better patient care. Other projects that reduce paper use include SMS text reminders for patient appointments and electronic discharge letters.
- The majority of staff training and meetings undertaken on-line.
- The proportion of Trust owned electric vehicles has increased thereby reducing air pollution.
- Decarbonisation reviews have been undertaken for all 17 hospital sites. This informs our estates teams what needs to be done, where.
- All new builds and retrofits over £15 million meet the NHS England » NHS Net Zero Building Standard published 23rd February 2023.
- The use of the anaesthetic gas, desflurane, which has a global warming potential 2,500 times greater than carbon dioxide is now below the National target of 5% across all our Trusts.
We need to work with the public, community organisations and councils etc to make our region a happier and healthier place to live.
Find out more by clicking on the link to our Greener NHS website.