THEMES / Sustainability in HealthCare

Sustainability in Healthcare—Behaviour, Challenges and Policy

Supported by the University of Surrey Living Lab, CUSP researcher Dr Shimaa Elkomy is undertaking a community outreach and learning project with the Royal Surrey County Hospital; aiming to link our research in sustainability and energy efficiency with healthcare practice in the local community.

CC.0 :: Owen Beard / unsplash.com

Aim

Led by CUSP research fellow Dr Shimaa Elkomy, in cooperation with the University of Surrey Living Lab and sustainability ambassadors in Royal Surrey County Hospital, the aim of this project is to link our research in sustainability and energy efficiency with the local community. Royal Surrey County Hospital is a key player in Guildford’s community and believed to have great local potential in shaping attitudes and behaviours towards more sustainable life- and working styles. Through strong linkages with patients, staff and its contractors, we see a strong opportunity for raising awareness of energy efficiency in healthcare, and for generating positive externalities and spillovers diffused to other economic sectors. This project acts as a pilot study for a bigger project that examines the sustainability and energy efficiency and their effect on the performance and the outcome of 158 acute hospitals in England.

What do we know?

  • The NHS spends more than £750 million on energy.
  • The NHS acute hospitals have witnessed a significant decline in energy efficiency of around 20 percent in the past 10 years.
  • Energy used by the NHS is estimated to account for a 1/4 of the total carbon footprint for the NHS.
  • Around half of these CO2 emissions is attributed to electricity use; while the remainder represents space and hot water heating via fuels such gas, coal and oil.
  • Better energy efficiency could save up to 20% (£150 million each year), through energy saving attitudes and more efficient design of the NHS estate.

 

What do we do?

🗓19 March 2020 | National Healthcare Sustainability Day at Royal Surrey County Hospital

We will be organising an interactive activity at the hospital, aiming to raise the awareness of environmental sustainability needs in the healthcare sector. On 19 March 2020, the National Healthcare Sustainability Day we’ll be engaging with staff and visitors to collect sustainability suggestions for the hospital to consider: we’ll be asking what the hospital as a workplace, a service provider and/or business partner should provide in an ideal world, as to help the individuals in their own ambitions to be and work in consideration of environmental sustainability. We’ll be collecting notes (in the form of postcards) helping us to further understand the challenges of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency from a staff, patient and business perspective. We aim to cover five main aspects of sustainability in our investigation—this includes recycling, procurement, energy, water and travel.

How can you participate?

🗓April (tbc) | Sustainability in the healthcare workshop in the University of Surrey (April 2020 and date to be confirmed)

We will be hosting a small series of participatory workshops from April onwards that will try to identify key attitudes and behaviours of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency in the hospital. We would invite Royal Surrey County Hospital staff to share their thoughts and insights about the sustainability challenges and the ways of addressing them in the short-run as well as the long-run. If you are interested, please email us: s.elkomy@surrey.ac.uk

Contact

For information about participation and discussion, please contact the Dr Shimaa Elkomy via email s.elkomy@surrey.ac.uk or by telephone 01483 68 8658.

About Surrey Living Lab

The University of Surrey Living Lab funds collaboration between students, academics, staff, community partners and external stakeholders to apply current research and innovation to address real-world issues, using the university campus and surrounding communities as a research beneficiary. The aim of this Surrey theme project is to nurture research activity, partnerships and action focused on creating clean, healthy and sustainable future communities.

What can prosperity possibly mean in a world of environmental, social and economic limits?—CUSP works with people, policy and business to address this question, developing pragmatic steps towards a shared and lasting prosperity. Find out more.

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