Dear Colleague,
As winter comes to an end, and flowers start to blossom; it is also time to announce that I will be leaving my position as Food Policy & Projects Officer at HCWH Europe at the end of this month. It has been a wonderful adventure helping to lead the sustainable food area for the past four years and having the opportunity to work with such passionate and dedicated professionals. You are a real inspiration, and my only wish is that you continue leading the path to sustainable healthcare in Europe.
To do so, please continue communicating your best practices with your colleagues, patients, and your community. We need to act quickly, and we need to act now - leveraging your collective voice as advocates to bring positive environmental, social, educational, economic, and political changes within and beyond your clinical environment.
Again, it has been a pleasure working and collaborating with you all.
In the meantime, we have more fantastic content for you in this month's newsletter, including an introduction from new members from the UK and Finland, the launch of a new doctors’ network in Europe, our new Sustainable Food programme report, Growing food, growing communities in healthcare, and much more.
As always, if you have any questions about this newsletter, would like to unsubscribe or add colleagues to the recipient list, or have any suggestions for future editions, please don’t hesitate to contact Aidan.
Kind regards,
Paola Hernández Olivan
Food Policy & Projects Officer
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Hospital District of Southwestern Finland is a hospital network of eight hospitals under one organization. Our hospital services have continued since 1759, and at present we care for more than 200 000 patients in need of specialized health care, providing one million outpatient visits each year. Our staff consists of 8500 professionals, including 1200 doctors and 5500 nurses.
Since 2012, we have improved our environmental responsibility with a program aiming for good waste management, high energy efficiency and circular economy. In 2020, we introduced a new sustainability program with stronger ambition in ecological and social sustainability.
Sustainability is a cherished value in the Finnish society, but in health care, we must increase our activity in many ways. We are building new hospitals that are more energy efficient and we invest in solar and geothermic energy, but we must put more effort in eg. sustainable procurement and resource efficiency.
Our hospital district wants to be a forerunner in healthcare sustainability. At present, we are training all our employees to become more aware of sustainability issues in healthcare and of the important role of healthcare workers in supporting sustainable development in the hospitals and the society.
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Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB) is one of the largest healthcare organisations in Europe, providing care for nearly 500,000 people living in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, UK. It oversees 17 health centres, public health and community care services, acute hospital services and also has a range of specialist tertiary services used by the whole of Wales. The Health Board is responsible for overseeing medical training undertaken at Cardiff University School of Medicine, as well as medical research and development facilities.
CAVUHB has a strong track record of reducing its environmental footprint thanks to the Welsh Government supported Re:Fit programme in its main hospitals, the University Hospital of Wales and University Hospital Llandough. The Health Board’s Sustainable Action Plan 2021 looks to build on these efforts by promoting active travel commitments, facilitating the innovative efforts by carbon-conscious clinicians, supporting the recurring role of Clinical Fellow in Sustainable Healthcare, encouraging collaboration with procurement partners to seek sustainable purchasing options, and pursuing our biodiversity plans.
The Health Board’s executive team are very much in support of this work and are keen to develop it further. CAVUHB look forward to accessing the wealth of knowledge and experience offered by membership of Healthcare Without Harm.
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March membership meeting: Recording and presentations now available
The recording and presentations from our most recent quarterly membership meeting, held on 16 March, are now available for GGHH members to access online. The theme of the meeting was ‘Green building/infrastructure in healthcare’ and we had fascinating presentations from Sylvie Meunier, Principal Architect at Ardism (on ‘Green building certifications’) and Robyn van den Heuvel from Dalberg and Jamie Lawrence from the Good Energies Foundation (on ‘Unleashing the full potential of forest and forest products’).
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Doctors for Greener Healthcare launches in Europe
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HCWH Europe has this month launched a new network aimed at engaging doctors in our work to create a more sustainable healthcare sector in Europe.
Doctors for Greener Healthcare will bring together clinical leaders from across Europe to collaborate, learn, share best practice, and advocate for a healthy future by reducing the environmental impact of healthcare.
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New report: Growing food, growing communities in healthcare
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The opportunity to link green spaces and food-growing spaces with health and nutrition is often missed or underused, but some healthcare providers in Europe are identifying new and creative ways of increasing their use of green spaces for the benefit of staff, patients, and local communities.
In our latest report, we provide case studies from across European healthcare that demonstrate the many environmental, social, and economic benefits of using green spaces within healthcare facilities for gardening and growing food.
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Building resilience: Evaluating the case for reusable medical protective clothing
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 Surgical masks, respirators, gowns, aprons, gloves, and visors have become indispensable in the fight against the COVID-19 virus, yet this increase in consumption and disposal of single-use products is negatively impacting our environment and health. Reusable medical protective clothing offers significant advantages: increased healthcare resilience, a smaller environmental footprint, and lower costs - all of which benefit patients and public health...
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Webinar recording: From data to action: How to reduce food waste in European healthcare
Paola Hernandez Olivan, coordinator of the MECAHF project, presents an overview of HCWH Europe’s recently concluded pilot project to measure and reduce food waste in a European hospital. A collaboration with the Hospital of Niort (France), the project also produced a set of tools to measure food waste and the carbon footprint of food products in order to inform and support purchasing decisions.
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Member blog: Where do our prescribed drugs end up?
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After passing through sewage treatment plants, approximately 40 tonnes of antibiotics and other drug residues can be found in Sweden’s sewage sludge, along with a variety of other hazardous chemicals. Even larger quantities find their way into our lakes and seas.
As healthcare professionals, we have a responsibility to the health of our patients and communities. Whilst we must carefully consider the full impact of our prescribing practices and our own contribution to this growing issue, we cannot ignore regulatory and policy solutions – we must act as advocates for more sustainable sewage management...
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On the road to circular healthcare – reusing medical devices
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Healthcare professionals and the wider sector hold enormous potential to lead the transition to carbon neutrality and reduce the sector’s environmental footprint. They can inspire other sectors and policy-makers to move away from a linear, single-use culture, towards a circular healthcare model.
Such a transition relies on behaviour change as well as new technologies and innovation; and we already have tools and expertise to start reusing many products within healthcare, including medical devices through reprocessing...
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Is the NHS commitment to zero carbon going viral?
On March 10, the Norwegian Parliament received a members' proposal to: 1. Establish a dedicated plan for achieving a carbon neutral health sector, and 2. Develop and annually report on a scope 1, 2 and 3 climate emissions budget.
The proposal cites National Health Service (NHS) England's commitment to climate neutrality. Thanks to the NHS for showing climate leadership and setting an example for other countries to follow. We hope to bring news of a successfully adopted commitment in Norway in one of our next newsletters.
Thank you to GGHH members South-Eastern Regional Health Authority for alerting us to this news.
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Galician Health Service uses 100% electric vehicles for home healthcare in Valdeorras
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For the past year, the home hospitalisation team at Valdeorras Public Hospital (part of the Galician Health Service, SERGAS) have been using 100% electric cars. In this time, the team has travelled 21,000km and treated 90 patients at home. This task has been made more difficult by the geography in the region - which is very mountainous and sparsely populated.
If you have any questions about this initiative, please contact Cristina Enjamio or Beatriz Piñeiro Lago from the Galician Health Service. |
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Medics for Clean Air: A new prescription from medical professionals across Europe to tackle air pollution
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 Medics for Clean Air is a European coalition of doctors, nurses, researchers, medical students, and other health professionals who have signed a manifesto for urgent and sustainable actions to tackle air pollution and protect their patients and our environment. The campaign is coordinated by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA).
The Medics for Clean Air manifesto calls for:
- Decision-makers to take note of the latest scientific evidence on the health damage of air pollution, as a basis for any future clean transport policy.
- The European Union and national governments to end the sale of new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2028, while progressively phasing out existing polluting vehicles from urban areas.
- A shift from car-based cities to walking, cycling, and public transport, wherever possible.
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