By Bea Nield
When you think of hospitals, sterilisation and medicinal patient care seem the obvious focuses. How often do gardens, greenery and sustainability come to mind? There is a rising concern over the ecological footprint of the healthcare sector. As new technologies are developed, and hospitals attempt to move, although often limited by budget, towards a more internet integrated style, energy consumption is growing rapidly. The UK National Health Service (NHS) generates an alarming 538,600 tonnes of waste per year in England. Waste seems unstoppable – how do we balance plastic and other material use with cleanliness when single-use items have become so intrinsically linked to anti-contamination practices? The carbon footprint of hospitals is staggering, and the NHS has been working since 2008 to quantify and reduce it: in 2019, its emissions totalled 25 mega-tonnes of CO2 equivalent, a reduction of 26% since 1990. While, of course, other industries are culprits too, improving sustainability could have untold benefits for patients and budgets alike. An increasing population and environmental awareness make this an unavoidable issue; the sooner we address it, the better.
One of the most notable, and often not considered, factors in reducing the environmental impact of a hospital is its energy efficiency. While this can be managed by adapting energy demand, much of this is already carefully considered as it is extremely costly. The other side to resolving the issue is designing and altering buildings to be energy efficient. This can involve strategic architectural and structural decisions; even something as obvious as insulating windows and walls can make a dramatic impact. For example, the Buckinghamshire Health Research and Innovation Centre was officially opened in 2022; one of its main aims is to help drive sustainability in line with the Buckinghamshire Local Industry Strategy. It has also been “built with 99% recyclable materials, harvests rainwater and is energy efficienct”. Relying more on natural lighting can both help reduce energy consumption but also works to improve patient mental wellbeing, as people often enjoy being in a more natural atmosphere, something which can be difficult to achieve in clinical environments like hospitals.
Many hospitals are now beginning to implement renewable energy sources. For example, solar power, although relatively inefficient, has been particularly popular as it is easy to fit to pre-existing buildings and suits a variety of locations. By introducing specific, appropriate and sustainable energy generation in hospitals, they can offset some of their demand from the national grid in a very environmentally responsible manner. Further, hospitals are positioning themselves at the forefront of local ecological awareness, which can, in turn, encourage other nearby people and businesses to consider how they can improve. It may also allow more people to feel that hospitals are there to help and represent them, suiting and serving their local communities as best as possible by examining every aspect of the healthcare process, including energy use.
Waste reduction is an extraordinarily important and difficult to solve problem in environmentalism in the healthcare sector. In the wake of focus on reducing cross-contamination and increasing cleanliness, routine procedures often now involve single-use items such as needles, syringes and nail picks, which generate a large amount of waste annually. In fact, a recent study stated that single-use products are responsible for “more than two thirds of the carbon footprint”, from the most common NHS procedures. Further, medical waste is often hazardous and requires specialised disposal methods. Strategies to manage this problem may include simplifying waste streams and tackling human behaviour. A more innovative approach, as seen at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, is to use biotechnology to process organic waste using specialised bacteria. By implementing recycling programs and reducing single-use plastic reliance, healthcare facilities can minimise contribution to landfills and pollution. In this way, they can benefit the environment and better align themselves with patient expectations for socially responsible healthcare.
There can be an enormous positive impact on both the environment and patient satisfaction when policies such as these are implemented. Better energy efficiency can involve reducing demand from national power grids, which are often substantially powered by environmentally damaging sources. Even when power generation may be sustainable in the long run, decreasing demand means that less infrastructure, often costly both monetarily and ecologically, must be built – a particularly pressing issue as global energy demand rises dramatically. More eco-conscious practices also free up budget for new research and development of projects to benefit communities, such as of medicines or advanced facilities. Even the process of becoming more environmentally friendly can cause local culture-shifts, as more green and pleasant spaces may be introduced in hospitals which can improve patient recovery and the wellbeing of anybody interacting with hospital environments. Patient satisfaction and health are ultimately the core aims of the healthcare sector, and so adaptations to improve it are always welcome.
However, implementation of radical new programs may be difficult. Expert advisers should assess all aspects of the healthcare sector, from transport to the hospital buildings themselves and then devise specialist plans to improve the ecological impact of trusts. No two hospitals will be identical, with different resource requirements, geographical locations and community expectations, but common themes will likely be noted, such as offsetting the large energy demands being a top priority. Economically, it can be very difficult to adapt large sectors or even small buildings to be more ecological. Although, in the long run, money may be saved, particularly in terms of energy efficiency, the initial cost to make these changes may be more than an already strained NHS budget can bear. Practicality must also be considered – sometimes retro-fitting the ideal energy efficiency does not work money or time cost wise, such as the wall compositions of entire hospitals, so bespoke plans will be required. There are already set standards to which new building must comply, but many regulations are focused on housing. Addressing our healthcare industry and needs will remain relevant for a long time.
In this twenty-first century, it is important that we care for each other and future generations. A paradigm shift towards eco-conscious hospital practices could cause patient wellbeing to flourish and would help prevent the drastic results of climate change. By saving money with energy efficiency, we could combat the budget limitations of the NHS, improving drug development, staff experiences and patient welfare. Public relations would also be bettered, as visitors would find the hospital a more pleasant space to be in, allowing greater community access to what can be a very intimidating environment. Of course, this change will not be easy, as extensive analysis is required before measures can be implemented, but the benefits would be immeasurable.