Hospital collects award for sustainability efforts

A hospital said it was "delighted" that its sustainability work had been recognised with a national environmental award.

Northampton General Hospital (NGH) was named sustainability influencer of the year at the national Investors in the Environment Awards.

The prize was given to the hospital in recognition of the way it had encouraged other hospitals to find new practices to reduce carbon emissions and waste.

NGH said its sustainability efforts had included reducing disposable glove use, promoting reusable theatre hats and cutting medicine waste.

The hospital was also honoured for receiving a green accreditation from Investors in the Environment for 10 years - one of only eight organisations to achieve the accolade.

Achieving a green accreditation meant the hospital had demonstrated a focus on sustainable development and carbon emission reduction.

The hospital's leaders have organised conferences, workshops and critical care meetings to share their learnings.

Clare Topping, the head of sustainability at NGH, said: "We won the award for the way we engaged with the independent non-profit Centre for Sustainable Healthcare to run a green team competition, which has resulted in a number of my amazing colleagues completing additional projects and talking about their projects locally and nationally.

"The competition encouraged our staff to consider how healthcare could be improved whilst, at the same time, reducing environmental impact.

"Green team competition projects tend to be small – and are all completed over 10 weeks – and so they are easy to replicate across the NHS.

"There is rarely any additional funding required to make the changes and all of our projects have reduced spend, reduced waste and improved staff or patient experience."

Rob Drabble, the group director of facilities and estates at the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire, said: "I am delighted that the work done by our teams has been recognised at a national level with this award.

"We hope it shows our commitment to finding ways to increase our sustainability, and reduce waste and our carbon footprint, and to inspire others to do the same through our examples."

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