Sustainable Health SW Newsletter No 1 (Oct 09)

Welcome to the first Sustainable Health SW newsletter!

This is the first of the monthly Sustainable Health SW newsletter. If there is anything you would like included or to share suggestions or feedback (always welcome!), contact me on 0117 929 0989 or lynn.gibbons@sustainabilitysouthwest.org.uk

All the best,

Lynn Gibbons, Sustainable Health SW Project Manager

www.sustainablehealthsw.org.uk online!

The Sustainable Health SW website is now live! The site aims to be a useful resource and information portal to help all Trusts reduce the carbon footprint, integrate sustainability across the organisation and support sustainable communities.  The site will be continually updating with resources, information, news and events. Don’t forget that the site is there to help you - so please take advatage of the forums to share information and ask questions! Please pass the website details to your colleagues - they can also sign-up to receive the newsletter and take part in the forums (provided they are NHS staff). And if you have any information, best practice or ideas to share - please contact Lynn (as above).

Carbon Management Plan template now available online

The template for a board level Carbon Management Plan is now available on the Sustainable Health SW website. The document includes the basic set-up of the management plan, complete with background information and appendices. Each organisation can include actions and measuring specific to their aims and needs. Click HERE to access the template, or visit the ‘energy and carbon’ page of the website.

Balanced Menus in the South West

The US based Institute for a Sustainable Future has invited hospitals in the South West to join its Balanced Menus Challenge, a climate change reduction strategy that helps hospitals serve the healthiest food to benefit patients, the environment and the bottom line. It is a systematic approach to reduce the amount of meat protein in hospital food and a strategic pathway to serving the healthiest, most sustainably produced meat available. Implementation of Balanced Menus can offer cost savings as well as concrete public and environmental health benefits. We are keen to have at least a few Trusts volunteer to give it go! Click HERE for more information and get in touch with Lynn if you would like more information or to sign up!

Good Corporate Citizenship assessment & workshop

All NHS organisations are encouraged to sign up to the Good Corporate Citizen (GCC) assessment. The GCC is a tool to help you think about how you and your organisation can contribute to sustainable development, including putting social, economic and environmental considerations at the heart of your decision making and using your organisation’s purchasing power, influence and resources to help deliver strong, healthy and sustainable communities. The model includes information on some key areas where you can be active with sustainable development and a self assessment test to help you understand and monitor your progress with sustainable development across your organisation.  For more information visit http://www.corporatecitizen.nhs.uk/ and remember that help if you would like help facilitiating the workshop, please give Lynn a ring on 0117 929 0989.

NHS Fit for the Future?

The latest guidance from the NHS Sustainable Development Unit has recenlty been released.  The document "Fit for the Future" was published on the 10th September 2009.  Co-produced in conjunction with the sustainable Development Charity, Forum for the Future it states that "A low carbon NHS is a more efficient NHS". The NHS will have to play a leading role in the response to climate change if it is to provide the best quality healthcare.  That is the conclusion of the report which states that the NHS must take urgent action now to be fit for the future.

Fit for the Future recommends five key steps to creating a sustainable low-carbon healthcare system, ready for whatever the future may hold.  The report details a set of scenarios which managers and clinicians can use to test strategy.  It is one of the first times the NHS has studied the long-term measures required to maintain a quality health service for patients in the face of climate change.

  1. Support people in taking responsibility for their own health
  2. Build greater acceptance of ICT in healthcare provision
  3. Work to find the low-carbon / high quality of life sweet spot
  4. Allocate resources to promote health rather than treat illness
  5. Ensure the healthcare system takes a leadership role in the radical change we need to face climate change

For more information and to download the document click HERE.

NHS Sustainability Network for the SW

The next Sustainability Network meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 3 December from 1.00pm – 3.30pm at the Government Office for the South West in Bristol (next to Temple Meads station). The meeting will focus on Procurement, and speakers include Christine Storry from the South West Sustainable Procurement Network and Alex Jackson from Sustain. The full agenda will be circulated in mid November, and all Network members and procurement/catering colleagues are invited to attend. Contact Lynn for more information.