Overview
The UK Government is committed to taking action on climate change and has introduced the Climate Change Act with a target to cut carbon emissions by at least 80% by 2050, with a minimum reduction of 26% by 2020 across the UK.
The NHS has a carbon footprint of 18 million tonnes of CO2 per year. This is composed of energy (22%), travel (18%) and procurement (60%). This means that meeting the Climate Change Act targets of 26% reduction by 2020 and 80% reduction by 2050 will be a challenge. According to David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, the health service has a ‘responsibility to tackle its carbon footprint’. As an employer of 1.4 million people, an annual budget of over £100 billion and one of the largest property portfolios in Europe, the NHS can make a huge difference to sustainability in the UK.
Due to their size and operational nature, many NHS organisations will also have to comply with the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC). The financial and reputational drivers in the CRC provide compelling reasons for NHS organisations to ensure they are well prepared for its arrival. The CRC supports the NHS’s pledge to reduce carbon emissions as outlined in the NHS Sustainable Development Unit’s Carbon Reduction Strategy, published January 2009.
Furthermore, a new interactive website launched on November 26 2009 by the Sustainable Development Commission and the NHS shows how health professionals can help save money and make the NHS more sustainable. The Good Corporate Citizenship assessment model shows how reducing waste and energy consumption in operations and procurement, and making decisions that help prevent illness, can help NHS trusts make significant efficiency savings and benefit patients, communities and the environment.
Agenda
This timely forum will offer delegates the opportunity to discuss what actions can be taken to ensure that the NHS becomes a leading sustainable and low carbon organisation.
09:10 Registration and Coffee 09:50 Chair’s Welcome Address - Tess Gill, Commissioner for Health, Sustainable Development Commission (CONFIRMED)
10:00 Sustainable Development, Health and the NHS
- Saving carbon improving health: NHS as exemplar organisation
- Sustainable living: business case and key metrics in the NHS
- Leading by example: societal and economic benefits of carbon reduction in the NHS
- Driving efficiency through sustainability
- Good Corporate Citizenship Assessment Model
Tess Gill, Commissioner for Health, Sustainable Development Commission (CONFIRMED)
10:20 Fit for the Future: Working Towards a Sustainable NHS
- Fit for the Future: Scenarios for low-carbon healthcare 2030
- Key steps to creating a sustainable low-carbon healthcare system
- Strengthening partnerships with local authorities and aligning Local Delivery Plans and Local Area Agreements
- Embedding sustainability into all activities
- North West experience
Ruth Passman, Senior Health Policy Adviser, Department of Health (CONFIRMED)
10:40 Carbon Efficiency to Reduce Cost, Reduce Energy and Hit Target
- CRC and opportunities it brings to the NHS
- Understanding carbon reduction commitment and what you need to do to meet new government targets
- Establishing a process for the ongoing monitoring, collection and reporting of data
- Creating a successful emissions trading strategy
Tony Grayling, Head of Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Environment Agency (CONFIRMED)
11:00 Using Innovation and New Technologies to Drive Efficiency, Reduce Carbon and Improve Quality
- Stimulating innovation in infrastructure provision
- Harnessing maximum benefits out of existing technology and sourcing new processes to deliver quality care and carbon-efficient services
- N3 Sustainability Project
- Sustainable ICT: greening devices and networks and smarter use
Chris Wilber, Director of Infrastructure, NHS Technology Office, NHS Connecting for Health (CONFIRMED)
11:20 Question and Answer Session
11:40 Coffee and Networking
12:00 Procuring for Carbon Reduction* Delivering innovation and sustainability in procurement
- Long term efficiency – Whole life costing to make savings which can then be invested back into patient healthcare
- Delivering a procurement policy that puts sustainability at the heart of all decision making
- What can hospitals do to improve food sustainability?
David Wathey, Head of Sustainable Procurement, Department of Health (CONFIRMED)
12:20 Delivering a Sustainable Food Service
- Using locally grown biomass as fuel – reducing the catering system’s carbon footprint by up to 90%
- Encouraging a local, sustainable food supply – reducing food miles and waste, and strengthening the local community
- Contract specifications to help local suppliers compete with national suppliers
- Helping local producers and businesses become part of a national contract enabling them to supply all NHS operations
- Carbon neutral kitchen, providing food for all patients, by 2010
- Working with community social enterprises
John Hughes, Catering manager, City Campus Nottingham University Hospitals (CONFIRMED)
12:40 Question and Answer Session
12:55 Lunch and Networking
13:55 Driving Efficiency through Sustainability
- NHS Sustainable Development Strategy
- Saving carbon improving health: NHS as exemplar organisation
- Sustainable living: business case and key metrics in the NHS
- Leading by example: societal and economic benefits of carbon reduction in the NHS
- Driving efficiency through sustainability
Sonia Roschnik, Operational Director, NHS Sustainable Development Unit (CONFIRMED)
14:15 Maximising the Efficiency and the Commercial Potential of Your Estate Whilst also Reducing Your Carbon Emission
- Maximising efficiency and commercial potential
- Ensuring efficient property usage
- Ensuring the professional management of healthcare facilities
- Striving for quality and sustainable healthcare facilities within the NHS while recognising that the patient is the focal point
Robert Heavisides, Chair, Health Facilities Consortium & Director of Facilities, Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation (CONFIRMED)
14:35 Coffee Break and Networking
14:55 Energy and Environmental Efficiencies in Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust
- Investing in energy efficient technologies and buildings services
- An environmental procurement policy
- Working with local authorities and waste contractors on schemes to encourage staff to reduce waste and recycle
- Integration of environmental considerations into all business activities
- Formalisation of an Environmental Management System, such as ISO14001, and an Environmental Management Structure reporting at Trust Board level
- Working across teams on a wide range of disciplines and support
Jonathan McGarrigle, Environment Manager, Cardiff and the Vale NHS Trust (CONFIRMED)
15:15 Driving Cost and Carbon Efficiencies - Grey Fleet Opportunities for the NHS
- Why grey fleet is a strategic issue for NHS trusts boards
- The scale of the opportunity for health
- Strategies to help the NHS reduce the number of staff using their own cars for business purposes to:
- Reduce costs
- Reduce carbon emissions
- Improve care of employees
- Implications of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
- 5-step process to start a grey fleet project
Senior representative, Office of Government Commerce (OGC) (CONFIRMED)
15:35 Questions and Answers Session
16:00 Chair's Summary and Close
*programme subject to change without notice
Audience
Delegates attending this forum will include PCT's, NHS, health authorities, central and local government, education, social care and business sectors specifically; commissioning directors, heads of procurement, heads of estate, research and development managers, heads of innovation and development, head of IT &, heads of business development, social care directors, communication & marketing directors, technical directors, project directors, heads of PCT’s, directors of public health, HR managers, health and wellbeing mangers, chief nurses and occupational health managers.