Sustainable Healthcare
surprise and offers a clear signpost to where significant innovation effort needs to be concentrated. The Scottish Government is also aware that a minority of 20 NHS sites are responsible for over 60% of building energy emissions with decarbonisation plans being prepared for those priority sites – a move rightly considered “critical to decarbonising the NHS”. It is believed that “some of these sites will be
easier to decarbonise than others due to their age and construction” – but it is encouraging nevertheless to note that determined action is now either planned or underway to continue the momentum behind a 31% reduction in NHS Scotland’s total heat and power emissions evidenced between 2015-16 and 2022-23. Last year’s Annual NHS Scotland Climate
Emergency & Sustainability Report echoed those sentiments, stating that, “for building energy, much more now needs to be done, but the achievements so far should make us hopeful in realising that further progress can be made.” Indeed, the report found that NHS Scotland collectively met all of its annual energy targets relating to heating and powering buildings. In the future, those energy targets will be
helped by the opening in 2031 of the state-of the-art new University Hospital Monklands which will be built in Airdrie. It will be the first fully net zero, digital hospital in Scotland, designed from the outset to contribute no carbon emissions during both build and operation phases. It will also protect and enhance the natural environment of the woodland area in which it sits. To maintain positive momentum, the Scottish
Government has urged that the country’s health boards “must find innovative solutions to reduce their energy emissions”. Significant sustainable opportunities include the potential for replacement of more traditional
energy forms such as fossil fuels with biomass boilers, solar panels, air source and ground source heat pumps, and battery storage. I believe that innovation targeted at
lowering buildings emissions identified by the knowledgeable, insightful Scottish health service workforce can be a huge asset in achieving that desired progress – and there are many opportunities for the forward-thinkers. Certainly, staff can play a vital role in decarbonising NHS buildings by identifying not only lesser used areas which could benefit from the integration of smart technologies to monitor and respond to usage patterns but also noting where improved building insulation and upgraded glazing could be most effective, thereby producing marked efficiency savings. Only recently, staff at NHS Forth Valley
revealed their work to optimise building energy usage within high carbon theatre facilities, including adjusting the speed of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems equipped with fans, and evaluating the effectiveness of anaesthetic gas scavenging systems while maintaining safe and efficient working conditions. Lower carbon practices can also mean smarter
use of IT resources including decommissioning or repurposing computer hardware and scoping new data centre requirements with sustainable considerations in mind.
Major gains can be made in other areas too
on the way to 2040. NHS Scotland’s electric fleet is ever-expanding. As of April 2024, 45% of NHS Scotland’s vehicles were electric, representing a significant increase from the figure of 19% in October 2022, and that will only rise. Medical gas emissions continue to fall
steadily too, including the replacement of anaesthetic gas Desflurane with a less harmful gas which is now saving emissions equivalent to powering 1,700 homes every year. In fact, NHS Scotland won the European Sustainable Healthcare Project of the Year award in 2023 after becoming the first national health service in the UK to stop using Desflurane. The drive towards net zero also means greater cost efficiency with the National Green Theatre Programme supporting health boards to achieve not only annual reductions of around 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide generated from surgery but also financial savings of around £6 million. These better practices significantly add up. The programme takes a holistic view by aiming to embed sustainability into all clinical
42
www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I May 2025
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
