CSH Partners With KitNewCare To Enhance Kidney Care Across Europe

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) has partnered with KitNewCare to make kidney care more sustainable as part of the European Union’s key funding programme for Innovation and research to tackle climate change. 

KitNewCare, a new EU-funded project running from January 2024 to December 2027  aims to help health and care systems better embrace environmental sustainability and climate-neutrality, with a specific focus on kidney care. To help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) CSH is proud to announce its partnership with this trailblazing project to transform the delivery of kidney care across Europe, reduce the environmental impact of clinical care and improve patient outcomes, health inequalities and population health overall. 

What is KitNewCare?

KitNewCare is a new project that shifts the traditional focus of sustainable healthcare from energy consumption and focuses instead on preventative care and efficiencies within clinical best practice.  By employing a systematic approach to decarbonize the EU and UK healthcare system, applying benchmark interventions, holistically assessing their effectiveness and aligning major EU initiatives that call for developing, implementing, and upscaling sustainable solutions throughout the healthcare landscape, KitNewCare aspires to set new standards in kidney care and influence other medical fields to build a more sustainable future for the entire healthcare system. 

According to the WHF, in 2022 the healthcare industry is one of the largest contributors to climate change. The healthcare sector alone constitutes an estimated burden of 5% of the total carbon emissions on a global level. (Health Care Without Harm 2023). The KitNewCare project tackles this challenge head on by identifying and addressing the major health, environmental, financial and social factors affecting healthcare delivery. By focusing on kidney care as a prime example of a substantial disease burden, KitNewCare hopes to establish new ways of working and bring systemic change across the entire industry. 

"The KitNewCare project represents a pivotal step towards aligning kidney care with SDGs both at national level and in line with the EU Green Deal's objectives. Our vision is to revolutionise healthcare practices by introducing sustainable technologies and methodologies that minimise environmental impact without compromising patient care. By embedding social responsibility and environmental consciousness into our work, we aim not only to improve patient outcomes but also pave the way for a more sustainable healthcare sector. We believe that KitNewCare, with the expertise of our European partners, will serve as a beacon of sustainability, inspiring others to adopt sustainable practices and foster a greener healthcare future."

Brett Duane, Principal Investigator at Trinity College Dublin. 

What is CSH’s role within the KitNewCare project? 

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare will be leading three work packages for KitNewCare focused on selecting, piloting and evaluating changes in care delivery that bring environmental benefits, to inform best practice guidance in sustainable kidney care.  This includes creating a sustainability benchmarking dashboard and an educational training package which will support Renal care centres to share advances in practice. 

The KitNewCare project started in January 2024 and will run until December 2027. 

KitNewCare will set an exciting and innovative new sustainable benchmark not just for kidney care, but the healthcare industry as a whole, and the expertise and guidance of CSH will play a vital role in ensuring its success.