Greener NHS will improve lives across Birmingham and Solihull
Tackling air pollution in Birmingham will lead to better health outcomes for the population, a sustainability summit was told.
Data shared at the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System’s (BSol ICS) Sustainability Conference highlighted that up to almost 1,000 premature deaths every year are linked to air quality across the city.
The figures are included in the system’s Green Plan, published earlier this year which also sets how the NHS across Birmingham and Solihull plan to work together to reduce pollution and deliver more sustainable healthcare.
Key initiatives include expanding the use of public transport for both staff and patients in partnership with Transport for West Midlands who are supporting discounts for patients and free travel for new starters during their first month of work.
The plan also sets out how the NHS locally intends to reduce the impact of delivering healthcare by stopping the use of harmful anaesthetic gases, reducing the environmental impact of medicines and reducing the use of fossil fuels to heat and power healthcare facilities.
Matt Boazman, Chief Executive at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “As NHS organisations, we all recognise that climate change is a public health emergency and can have a huge impact on the quality of life and life expectancy for our patients and families.
“We must take action to improve the health of our population, and reduce our own carbon footprints, which are often extremely large across all healthcare providers.
“Every NHS Trust within the BSol ICS is committed to doing all we can by exploring more sustainable ways of providing energy to our buildings, managing waste and water, reducing the use of harmful anaesthetic gases, inhalers and refrigerant gases and reducing the impact of travel.”
The conference heard from speakers about examples of good practice, travel initiatives and how to optimise these schemes within organisations.
They included Clare Nash, Clinical Procurement Lead at the Black Country Alliance on behalf of Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.
She told how clinical staff are taking action to help reduce the carbon footprint within the NHS.
“Around 35 per cent of the NHS carbon footprint comes from medicines, clinical products and medical equipment administered or used by nurses and other clinical staff every day,” she said. “It is in their gift to be able to make small changes that collectively can have a big impact.
“Given nurses are the largest workforce in the NHS, they are uniquely placed to advocate, educate, identify and lead action to reduce the impact delivering healthcare has on climate change.
“I have seen the difference nurses are making through reducing use of products like gloves, cannulas, pulp products and couch roll, ensuring care is high quality and safe which automatically makes it greener, and moving to reusable products where available.
“Together we can do so much more. I am hopeful that the conference will inspire more clinical teams into action, and that ripple effect will help others to implement projects in their workplace.”
Meanwhile at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust various uptake of travel schemes has led to it achieving a Modeshift STARS Certification.