VIEWPOINT
released simultaneously at events in London, UK, and Medellín, Colombia, makes the case for a transformation of the healthcare sector that aligns it with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In some geographies, progress is
already being achieved. In the Boston- area, in the US, for example, hospitals have advanced public health by cutting their energy greenhouse gas emissions by 29%, between 2011 and 2015, and are on track to reduce this further to 33% by 2020.1 England’s NHS has also reduced the health and social care climate footprint by 18.5% since 2007. Its goal is to comply with the country’s Climate Change Act, which sets a requirement of reducing the footprint further so that the United Kingdom achieves a 34% reduction by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050.1 It is important to encourage this momentum, which is why IFHE at its 2019 Council Meeting in Manchester, UK, announced plans to develop and implement a programme to promote and recognise sustainability improvement in healthcare facilities around the World. At the 26th Congress, to be held in Rome next year, we will be launching an awards structure to highlight continuous improvement at hospitals across the globe. The initiative is not designed to dictate
‘best practice’, but to encourage improved practice. Whatever your baseline, the goal is to demonstrate that progress has been achieved over the course of a year. In a utopian world, we would wish for healthcare providers to target carbon zero initiatives, but we understand that this is not realistic across all geographies. Some Governments are more supportive of efforts to tackle carbon emissions than others, and each country is facing the challenge with unequal resources and from different starting points. IFHE does not wish to move into the political space, but to encourage healthcare facilities to ‘do better’. The awards will give recognition to
healthcare estates managers who have successfully improved performance for healthcare facilities. The aim is to share this knowledge and insight around the world, so other hospitals can learn from
IFHE wants to hear your stories on how you are reducing the carbon footprint of your health estate.
their experience. Whether installing LEDs or a more energy efficient boiler, or changing behaviour, or some other initiative, IFHE wants to hear your stories on how you are reducing the carbon footprint of your health estate.
Managing a changing landscape Clearly, we are witnessing a growing focus on technology, efficiency, sustainability and increasing complexity in the healthcare sector. But there are other trends around the globe that are presenting challenges. When governments focus on their core function of healthcare delivery and outsource ownership and management of the built asset, to private companies, there can be unintended consequences. These enterprises are in the business to make money and here in lies the challenge for the health estate. Unless there are very robust
contractual controls in place, outsourcing has a tendency to create a quantum shift in terms of the investment made in the people and the facilities. In addition, the healthcare engineering experts employed
According to the Health Care Without Harm report, fossil fuel combustion makes up well over half of healthcare’s global climate footprint. Overall, healthcare emissions are equivalent to the annual greenhouse gases produced by 514 coal-fired power plants
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by hospitals tend to be very loyal to the institution, with some having invested many years into their career. As the workforce has witnessed changes, many have retired or moved on and their roles have been outsourced. Unfortunately, with the loss of these employees, there has also been a loss of ownership in terms of the facility. In some instances, this has had a
negative impact on the healthcare engineering space, particularly in terms of the loss of expertise built up over many years. It also creates tensions in terms of multidisciplinary collaboration as outside commercial companies are often viewed with a level of suspicion. The ramifications of outsourcing on the sector have not been widely recognised. However, this changing landscape needs to be better understood, managed and negotiated in the future.
Work force development Urgent discussion is also required around career succession and development of the work force. In Australia, we are looking at how we can connect with Universities and career development organisations to promote healthcare estates as a career option. When we talk of ‘engineering’, people often tend to think of more prominent industries like mining, construction or civil engineering. They do not think about the ongoing effort that is required to help maintain a hospital. There is a need to raise awareness of the career opportunities. I started out as an apprentice electrician and embarked on a career in healthcare engineering in the 1980s, at the Royal Adelaide Hospital – progressing
IFHE DIGEST 2020
©Marsea
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