A Spotlight On... Reducing Costs and Saving Energy

Article | Lewis Cowlishaw, Content Development Manager at Blue Stream Academy

We all have a vital role to play in reducing our carbon footprint to help tackle climate change, and the NHS was the first health service in the world to commit to reaching carbon net zero.

One year on from making that commitment, the NHS has already reduced its emissions by the equivalent of powering 1.1 million homes a year. The Delivering a Net Zero NHS report demonstrated that the NHS has exceeded the 2020 targets outlined in the Climate Change Act. But to meet the organisation’s commitment to net zero, every part of the NHS needs to work together.

Over 1.3 million people work in the English NHS alone. If we consider the millions of people who work in social care, as well as the organisations that support the sector by providing goods and services, the figure will be much higher.

All of us can play a significant role in reducing the sector’s carbon footprint, limiting our impact on the environment while making a significant difference to public health.

We’re already making many positive changes, at home and at work, as more of us choose to reduce our negative impact on the environment. There’s plenty we can do – from saving energy, recycling more packaging and using less plastic, to reducing emissions from travel, creating more green spaces and improving logistics.

It’s encouraging that often, simple changes can be highly effective:

• Using a refillable bottle for a year saves 64kg of CO2 compared with single-use plastic bottles.

• Turning off equipment and lights and controlling temperatures can lead to great savings: a pilot project at Barts Health managed to save 2,200 tonnes of carbon a year across six sites.

• Saving one car journey a week of 16.7 miles (the average daily commute) reduces the equivalent of 230kg of CO2 per person over a year.

• Using the right bin saves the amount of waste sent to landfill: In 2017, the NHS sent 15% of its waste to landfill, a total of 47,000 tonnes, a weight equal to 650 times the Space Shuttle.

A Case Study: Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust

Healthcare organisations around the country are coming up with inspiring ways to help reach the goal of net zero. One of these is Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH), which found an innovative way of reducing its carbon footprint while delivering life-saving drugs to patients.

The Issue

Around 4% (9.5 billion miles) of all road travel in England relates to the NHS, contributing around 14% of the system’s total emissions. Traffic in and around Oxford is often congested which causes delays for vans delivering critical and patient-specific medical supplies, such as chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics and intravenous nutrition products to OUH sites.

This unpredictability has put pressure on NHS staff to deliver treatment in a timely manner and has negatively affected patient experience. The Trust needed to find a more efficient way of getting key medical products to hospital sites and patients, that also benefited the environment.

The Solution

A pharmacist at OUH initiated discussions with their local supplier (Baxter and bike-courier firm Pedal and Post) to set up an alternative transport solution for chemotherapy drugs. Life-saving products are now delivered by cycle couriers to wards, day treatment areas and pharmacies at two sites in Oxford, saving time, money and generating cleaner air. Using cycle couriers has reduced the impact of external factors such as peak hour traffic and roadworks on delivery times.

Bhulesh Vadher, Chief Pharmacist at the Trust, said “The new bike courier service has taken away unnecessary extra pressure on NHS staff and has considerably reduced the delivery time. Using bikes instead of cars or vans is also better for the environment and the Oxfordshire community.”

The Impact

Up to the end of August 2021, over 51,000 products had been transported using the bikes since the first delivery was made at the start of August 2020. Delivery time to the two sites has halved, leading to improved services for patients.

The eco-friendly improvements deliver an estimated saving of up to 10 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, as well as improving air quality by eliminating pollution produced from diesel engines.

Professor Meghana Pandit, Chief Medical Officer at the Trust, said: “Having a more effective and timeefficient delivery system in place helps us support our hardworking staff and deliver the best care possible to our patients.”

This case study is available on the Greener NHS website. Visit the site to read other inspiring examples of how NHS organisations are reducing emissions, or to share your own success stories!

Want to Find Out More?

If you’d like to understand more about carbon and how to save energy at your organisation, our training module Reducing Costs and Saving Energy is available to all our customers.

The module explains why carbon management is important, outlines the principles of good carbon housekeeping, and looks at an organisational carbon-management plan.

To find out more, please phone us on 01773 822549 or visit our websites LiveChat feature at bluestreamacademy.com.

Lewis Cowlishaw

Content Development Manager at Blue Stream Academy

Lewis Cowlishaw oversees the research, writing and development of our eLearning content while coordinating with subject matter experts from across the UK.

“Our enthusiastic in-house development team ensures that we stay on top of the latest developments,” says Lewis. “The key to success at BSA is about being on the pulse of the health and care sector, and having a devoted following of passionate users certainly helps too.”