hospitals

Air pollution is considered the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK, with between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year attributed to long-term exposure

There is “room” for the NHS to scrutinise its deals with energy suppliers, says the campaign manager of a new awards recognising the green efforts of NHS hospitals. Scott Buckler at the NHS Sustainability Awards told ELN there are some “great examples” of NHS Trusts saving energy. In an interview about the awards, he suggests […]

Hospitals in the National Health Service are invited to enter an awards scheme recognising the best projects for saving energy and cutting waste. Free to enter, the NHS Sustainability Awards are backed by Barts Health Trust and the Sustainable Development Unit. There’s less than a month until the deadline, 5 February 2015, with winners announced […]

Hospitals are being asked to share how prepared they are – if at all – for climate change by the NHS’s Sustainable Development Unit (SDU). The query comes after warnings nine in ten hospital wards are at risk of overheating because of climate change-related rising temperatures. The worrying research for the Committee on Climate Change […]

Energy managers in the NHS have been branded a “waste” of public money by the Taxpayers’ Alliance. The group slammed the NHS for “unnecessary” jobs in public relations, the EU and ‘green’ staff. It also took a pop at roles ranging from sustainability and energy management, claiming the NHS was employing at least 86 ‘green’ […]

British hospitals have new guidelines to go green including cutting carbon emissions from making medicines and sending far fewer inhalers to landfill. Yesterday the Sustainable Development Unit, the body tasked with helping the healthcare sector cut 34% of its emissions by 2020, released broad plans to target five areas for improvement. The Sustainable Development Strategy […]

Pharmaceutical companies often have a mixed reputation in the public eye – but they could be set for a reprieve on the environmental front with a new tool charting their carbon footprint. What’s more this could have a knock-on effect for hospitals desperately trying to reduce their emissions. Yesterday the Carbon Trust and Association of […]

An NHS Trust in Lanarkshire was overcharged £35,089 on its energy bill. The Trust discovered the huge mistake after switching energy supplier. The large sum had mounted up on a series of bills and was only noticed after reviewing final meter readings and meter readings from the new supplier. Electricity can make up more than […]

Certain schools, hospitals and factories which have their own back-up power using oil, gas or coal will be saved from a new energy tax in the new financial year. Organisations which use fossil fuels in stand-by power stations or combined heat and power (CHP) plants generating less than 2 megawatts (MW) will not have to […]

New EU plans to encourage countries to cut energy use could cost the NHS millions, according to a group that speaks for the health service. The NHS Confederation issued the warning ahead of a vote on the EU’s energy efficiency directive, taking place today, which aims to reduce Europe’s primary energy consumption by 20% by […]