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Forum for Sustainable Healthcare Canada: a week to remember
On 30 April, CSH CEO Rachel Stancliffe attended Synergie Santé Environnement’s interregional Forum for Sustainable Healthcare in Montreal, hosted in collaboration with the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, Accreditation Canada, AQME, and CHUM. It was an extraordinary week, packed, energising, and full of the kind of conversations that remind you why this work matters.
International delegates from France, Spain, the Nordics, the US and the UK gathered to share experiences and ideas about driving the transition to sustainable healthcare. The breadth and ambition of what is happening globally was genuinely exciting to witness.
The week began with a meeting with CSH’s Canadian partners — Bhavini Makwana from Alberta Health System and Nabha Shetty from Dalhousie University — alongside Dr. Myles Sergeant from the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care. Together they explored how to embed SusQI into the Canadian health system at national level, including spreading the Green Team Competition and bringing key members into the SusQI Academy. That evening, Rachel joined Elisa Frenz from Health Proc Europe for a discussion on sustainable procurement, sponsored by Medicom.
The second day brought a procurement roundtable with local health providers, sustainability experts and industry leads, followed by a visit to a local hospital to see sustainability improvements first-hand — from design features separating clean and contaminated routes, to reusable textiles and a wide range of energy reduction interventions. The evening session with the Canadian Coalition, SSE and Accreditation Canada focused on embedding sustainability metrics into the accreditation process for both facilities and staff, an area with real potential to drive systemic change.
The main conference day on Thursday was a highlight. Rachel facilitated a session on improving collaboration with seven presenters, followed by an interactive workshop with 70 participants, and had the opportunity to meet an inspiring range of people, including Courtney Howard, Chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Olena Zotova from WHO ATACH, and colleagues from Vancouver Coastal Health and Cascades.
“It was energising to see how much momentum is building globally around sustainable healthcare. The connections made this week will, I hope, be the foundation for something significant.”
— Rachel Stancliffe, CEO, Centre for Sustainable Healthcare
The week closed with a small strategic meeting between Jerome Ribesse (SSE), Myles Sergeant (CCGH), Veronique Molieres (C2DS), Daniel Eriksson (Nordic Centre for Sustainable Healthcare) and Rachel, to explore options for forming a formal international alliance and agree a structure to begin working together quickly.
