www.greenerhealthcare.org
Centre for Sustainable Healthcare
Climate change presents the biggest challenge to 21st century health services and a double challenge for the NHS.
Firstly, climate change will impact hugely on people's health, with frequent heat waves, new diseases and increased mental stress. Secondly, the NHS is one of the biggest carbon generators in the UK. It is responsible for 18 million tonnes of CO2 each year, which represents 25% of all public sector emissions in England. The NHS has pledged to adopt the government targets as laid out in the Climate Change Act of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. How are we to achieve this?
The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare is a small, dynamic team working with the NHS and other partners to transform healthcare for a sustainable future. Independent, but with extensive experience of the NHS, we are in a unique position to network with NHS trusts and specialties, as well as external organisations in both the health and the environmental sectors. We work with experts to achieve sustainability in all areas of NHS activity through
* clinical transformation
* knowledge
* sustainability as a management priority
NHS Forest
www.nhsforest.org
The NHS Forest is an exciting new national project coordinated by the Campaign for Greener Healthcare. The project's central aims are:
* Improving health of staff, patients and communities through use of green space. Largely due to increasing access to green space on or near to NHS land.
* Greening the NHS Estates and planting 1 tree per employee. Amounting to 1.3 million trees within the next 5 years.
* Encouraging greater social cohesion between the NHS Estates and the local community.
* Encourage the NHS to ensure environmental benefits of their estates to include reducing the NHS' carbon footprint through offsetting from the 1.3 million trees planted.
* Bringing together a range of highly skilled professionals to produce woodland that includes the use of art, food crops and mapping.
