Sustainability
SWFT Green Plan
Climate change is both a health and environmental crisis, with wide-ranging impacts on patient’s health and care. In the UK, air pollution alone is responsible for 1 in 20 deaths¹, and climate change is also increasing the risk of vector-borne illness, zoonoses such as Covid-19 and heat-related illness, amongst others².
The NHS is responsible for 4% of UK emissions and has a target to reach Net Zero by 2040³. SWFT’s three-year Green Plan breaks down our current emissions and targets, to reduce our carbon footprint between 2022-2025, whilst continuing to provide high-quality care. These targets are broken down across nine Areas of Focus:
- Workforce and Systems Leadership
- Sustainable Models of Care
- Digital Transformation
- Travel and Transport
- Estates and Facilities
- Medicines
- Supply Chain and Procurement
- Food and Nutrition
- Adaptation
To meet our Net Zero target we’ve already made changes to our sites, including investing in spend-to-save schemes and collaborating with local partners. Changes include:
- Replacing over 70% of lighting with low-emission LEDs, with the aim of 100% coverage by the end of 2024
- Investing in renewable energy, including solar panels at Warwick and Leamington hospitals
- Reducing food waste by digitising patient ordering, and introducing food waste bins
- Introducing Cycle to Work and Car Share schemes to encourage active and lower-emission travel
- Developing new green spaces to promote biodiversity and wellbeing amongst staff and patients. We’ve also created a Warwick Hospital green spaces map to highlight these areas to staff, patients and visitors.
Our Trust has successfully applied for £8.1m and £6.1m in Phase 3b and 3c Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) funding, which will see the installation of heat pumps, solar panels and double glazing across our hospital sites. We have also been successful in applying for £235k NEEF funding to install solar panels at Leamington Hospital.
Green Champions
We run quarterly sessions for our Green Champion (Trust colleagues interested in sustainability). Previous meetings have covered topics such as waste and energy, with guest speakers from local charities. Following each meeting, we ask colleagues to complete an activity which helps us meet one of our Green Plan targets.
They have also carried out audits in their areas of work which have helped identify hotspots, and allowed us to reduce energy consumption, waste and increase recycling.
Many of our Champions have carried out their own sustainability initiatives in their areas.
- Theatres have switched their single-use theatre hats for reusable hats which include staff names and role. This switch has improved communication and recognition in Theatres and reduced the amount of waste generated, saving 1751kgCO2e.
- We ran our first Green Team competition with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare in 2023, in which six clinical teams delivered sustainable Quality Improvement (QI) projects. Read the Impact Report, outlining potential annual savings of 7,032kgCO2e.
- Departments and teams including Pharmacy, Family Nurse Partnership and Tissue Viability have digitalised printed resources and letters. This has reduced paper waste whilst increasing personalisation of care and access.
Our Sustainability Team have created a photography display celebrating sustainability projects implemented by staff across all areas of the Trust. Find it in the corridor near to the Chapel at Warwick Hospital.
In 2023, the Sustainability Team launched a newsletter, with more examples of initiatives Trust colleagues have implemented to be more sustainable. If you are a member of staff, the team would love to hear from you if you’ve had an idea for your area eg replacing single-use items with reusable alternatives, supporting sustainable travel etc. Please email these to Sustainability.Team@swft.nhs.uk.
Green spaces
In 2023, we launched the below Green Spaces map of Warwick Hospital, highlighting areas where staff, patients and visitors can access. Research has shown significant benefits to wellbeing and even recovery with increased access to green spaces.
