The head of NHS England, Sir Simon Stevens, announced the Greener NHS campaign towards the back end of January 2020. A key focus of the campaign is to reinvigorate SDMPs into the new “Green Plan”. This new campaign is a rallying call to all NHS organisations to take stock of their current environmental performance and to begin taking more serious action to reduce their negative environmental impacts. A number or health and care organisations, including the British Medical Association, have declared climate change to be a health crisis, and following this declaration, the Greener NHS campaign is a vital intervention. Green Plans have been identified as a keystone intervention that all NHS organisations need to adopt to aid the Greener NHS campaign.
Whilst the majority of NHS organisations are already working towards a more sustainable future through the implementation of Sustainable Development Management Plans (SDMP), there is a perception the sustainability is an Estates & Faculties issue. The Greener NHS campaign will hopefully move sustainability out of the E&F departments and onto the shop floor, thanks to the new requirements of the Green Plan. With the head of NHS England now signalling the NHS’s desire to reduce carbon emissions, combat air pollution and reduce plastic waste, sustainability should be moving up the agenda of every Trust, CCG and GP practice in the nation.
The NHS is by far and away the largest public sector institution in the UK and produces a commensurate amount of environmental damage. The NHS needs to act to address its impact on our environment and it needs to act fast. With the NHS Long Term Plan, the new Standard Contract and the new Planning and Operations Guidance, it is more incumbent upon NHS organisations than ever before to address sustainability.
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