Press Release

18 August 2009

NHS urged to go green to save lives and money

  • NHS leaders told to join in the fight against climate change
  • A new handbook, backed by over 20 national organisations, shows how the NHS can make a pivotal difference

The NHS must act now to reduce its massive carbon footprint, Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, President of UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH), David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, David Pencheon, Director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, and Steve Barnett, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation write in a letter sent out to all NHS key decision-makers today.

Climate change is arguably the greatest public health challenge facing us in the 21st century. With a carbon footprint of over 18 million tonnes of CO2 – more than some large cities – the NHS is the UK public sector’s biggest single carbon emitter. But in a joint-letter sent out to NHS managers today, the organisation is being told that with strong leadership and the right action it has the potential to make huge reductions and significant savings in lives and money. 

To help the NHS become the leader of change - and meet and exceed the Government’s targets on emissions - FPH, the NHS Sustainable Development Unit and the NHS Confederation have produced a new handbook with practical guidance for NHS decision-makers on reducing their organisation’s carbon footprint.

The handbook, Sustaining a Healthy Future – Taking action on climate change (with a special focus on the NHS) has been endorsed by over 20 national organisations from across the health and environmental sectors. It sets out practical and realistic steps, from individual action plans to recycle and walk more, to checklists for integrating energy efficiency and other carbon-reduction measures into organisation-wide strategies and policies. The handbook’s guidance makes it clear that sustainable management and working practices can be achieved across the NHS. 

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, FPH President, says:
“The NHS is ideally placed to promote health and wellbeing by leading the battle against climate change. Cutting carbon saves money for healthcare – and also helps save the planet’s poorest families from a bleak future of droughts, flooding, food insecurity, migration and conflict.

“I urge all NHS managers to adopt Sustaining a Healthy Future as a basic guide to carbon reduction – and to share it with their teams and colleagues to inspire everyday action.” 

David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, says:
“The NHS is central to our society, touching almost every aspect of our lives. It therefore has a special responsibility to contribute to the climate change agenda.  This handbook will help the NHS to live up to those responsibilities.”

David Pencheon, Director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, says:
“The Sustainable Development Unit is focussed on helping the NHS become a leading sustainable and low carbon organisation.  One of our key aims is for staff in the NHS to understand the important connection between health and climate change.  Then, we want them to act on it.  That action will benefit patients, professionals, the public and also the planet.”

Steve Barnett, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, says:
“Our members increasingly understand that work to tackle climate change should be a part of their everyday work. A key part of reducing the NHS’ carbon output depends on the skills, knowledge and delivery of staff and this handbook gives advice on how all parts of every NHS organisation can tackle one of the biggest challenges of our future.

“By including a carbon reduction strategy into corporate governance plans and encouraging partnership organisations to follow suit, NHS boards can play an important and necessary role in helping the health service reduce its carbon footprint as well as its costs.”

The handbook can be downloaded here

Contact: FPH Press Officer Suvi Kingsley on 020 7935 3115 / 07939 897448 / suvikingsley@fph.org.uk

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. Sustaining a Healthy Future – Taking action on climate change [Special Focus on the NHS] has been produced in association with the NHS Confederation and the NHS Sustainable Development Unit.
     
  2. Action checklists
    The handbook explains the importance of sustainable development within healthcare simply and clearly, and offers action checklists tailored specifically for NHS managers and staff.
    Action Checklist 1 – Planning and business management: tips on developing Board-approved strategies on sustainable development, becoming ‘a Good Corporate Citizen’ organisation, redesigning patient care and treatment pathways
    Action Checklist 2 – Achieving change within organisations: tips on how to communicate the business case for tackling climate change and on how to set up staff groups to improve staff and patient wellbeing by increasing green spaces and plants within the care environment
    Action Checklist 3 – The basics of a sustainable travel plan
    Action Checklist 4 – The local community: tips on involving groups such as health visitors to promote sustainable living – walking, cycling – as part of a lifestyle that will improve physical and mental health and combat climate change
    Action Checklist 5 – Individuals: suggestions on involving friends and family in the fight against climate change, for instance through a carbon audit
    Action Checklist 6 – Sustainability and health-check tool for policies and strategies: a set of questions that help check any initiative’s objectives from an environmental, social and economic point of view
     
  3. The handbook has been endorsed by:
    • Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
    • Association of Directors of Public Health
    • British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
    • Carbon Trust
    • Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
    • Climate and Health Council
    • David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, Department of Health England
    • National Heart Forum
    • Neil McKay, Chief Executive, NHS East of England
    • Paul Cosford, Regional Director of Public Health, NHS East of England
    • Institute of Public Health in Ireland
    • Phil Hope MP, Minister of State for Care Services and Minister for the East Midlands
    • Royal College of General Practitioners
    • Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
    • Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
    • Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
    • Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
    • Royal College of Physicians of London
    • Royal Society for Public Health
    • Scottish Healthy Environment Network Steering Group
    • Sustain
    • Sustrans
    • UK Public Health Association
       

    4.  Faculty of Public Health (FPH) is the leading professional body for public health specialists in the UK. It aims to promote and protect the health of the population, and improve health services, by maintaining professional and educational standards, advocating on key public health issues, and providing practical information and guidance for public health professionals.  www.fph.org.uk

    5.  Public health is about improving and protecting the health of groups of people, rather than about treating individual patients. Public health professionals must look at the bigger picture and then take action to promote health lifestyles, prevent disease, protect and improve general health, and improve healthcare services. The ‘population' they are working for could be a rural community, an entire city, or the global population, but the principles remain the same.


 

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