Nicky Chambers Director Best Foot Forward Ltd

Nicky Chambers

• Director

• Best Foot Forward Ltd

Material Health - The project

• First of its kind

• England and Wales

• High level of cooperation and support from NHS Estates and PASA

• High level of interest from within and outwith NHS

• Just a starting point

Surprising facts – a sample

• Gas dependency – NHS consumed 7,809 GWh of gas.

• This is 1.2% of UK consumption

• Over 1.3 million tonnes of products were purchased

• by the NHS in 2001 and 0.3 million tonnes came

• out again as waste.

• NHS produced 120,000 tonnes of clinical waste.

• Patients, staff and visitors travelled 25 billion

• passenger km. 70% of this was by visitors.

• Water heating efficiency is about 12%, i.e. 88%

• is ‘wasted’.

Resource flows in the NHS

What is sustainable consumption?

Scale of sectoral consumption

• The NHS’ environmental impact contribution to the UK per capita ecological footprint,

• in 2001

The effect of best practice

Service efficiency

• ‘the delivery of competitively priced goods and

• services that satisfy human need and bring quality

• of life, while progressively reducing ecological

• impacts and resource intensity throughout the

• lifecycle, to a level at least in line with the earth’s estimated carrying capacity.’ WBCSD

• 4,964,825

• 57,668,300 = 0.09 gha/patient episode

Why are these relevant to -

• Managers:

• What are our ‘big hitters’?

• What impacts can I realistically and most

• effectively reduce?

• What are our most ‘unproductive’ impacts?

• How can everyone make a difference?

• How have we made a difference?

Big hitters?

Reducing impact and wastage

Facts and Figures

• to engage staff

• to engage facilities managers

• to assist decision making

Have we made a difference

• ?

Where to next?

• Headline indicator for the sector?

• Use of concept at Trust and/or hospital level?

• Improvement of data sources/availability?

• Infrastructure construction?

Footprint tool for trusts

NHS

• One of the largest organisations in the world

• Employs over 1 million people

• Annual budget of £60 billion

• £11 billion spent on public services and goods

NHS Estates - 2002

• New Environmental Strategy for the NHS

• Sustainable Development in the NHS

• NHS Environmental Assessment Tool (NEAT)

Impact of the NHS

• Ecological Footprint is 1.8% of the total

• Eco-efficiency is 72% with 28% wastage compared to UK’s eco-efficiency of 52% retained and 48% wasted

Still room for improvement

• Transport – 17% Trusts implement green travel plans

• Waste

• Domestic waste – 98% landfilled or incinerated
• Food waste – 10% meals wasted
• Medicines – 480 tonnes = £100m = 10-12% all prescribed

Why paper?

Why construction?

Why procurement?

• You are not recycling unless you are buying recycled.

• Cost-competitive options are available.

• A top-down mandate is needed.

Paper - the good news

• In 2003, 85% of NHS PASA sales of tissue products included recovered fibre.

Paper - the not so good news

• In 2003, NHS PASA and Guilbert supplied 18.5 ktonnes of paper, averaging 3.5% recycled content.

OGC-DEFRA Joint Note on Environmental Issues in Purchasing

http://www.wrap.org.uk [e-mail]