green news - newcastle hospitals - home us pages... · 2020-05-11 · [email protected]...
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Autumn 2019 Edition
Climate Emergency!
Green News Introduction
Editor: Laura Middlemass
Welcome to the Autumn
2019 edition of Newcastle
Hospitals’ quarterly
sustainability newsletter.
This issue includes Waste
and Energy Updates; news
from our latest ‘Green
Department, and plenty of
suggestions and stories
from our Green
Champions!
We always welcome your
views and feedback on
sustainability, e mail
With thanks from Laura
Middlemass (Sustainability
Officer) and the rest of the
Sustainability Team.
On the 27th June Newcastle Hospitals became the first
NHS Trust in the country to declare a Climate Emer-
gency.
Our board has recognised that the changes that gov-
ernments have committed to in the past will not be
enough to prevent the worst effects of climate change
being realised.
The declaration
means that we have
committed to become
carbon neutral by
2040, and to join with
Newcastle University
and Newcastle City Council to take urgent action about
our city’s impact on the world.
Speaking to HSJ (Health Service Journal)
Dame Jackie Daniel said “our profession
requires us to ’first do no harm’; this
gives us a moral obligation to reduce the
harmful effects of carbon emissions and
pollution from our activities.
Also inside…
Energy update
Waste update
Sustainability case
study
Travel & Transport
Being green for
autumn
...continued on page 2
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To quote Greta Thunberg ‘...it is still not too late to act. It will take far-reaching vision. It
will take courage. It will take fierce determination to act now, to lay foundations when
we may not know all the details about how to shape the ceiling. In other words, it will
take cathedral thinking.’
Here in Newcastle we’ve taken up this challenge”
This renewed interest in protecting the planet has reminded staff that we can all make
changes to our lifestyles. This could be reducing energy consumption, making more
sustainable travel choices or reducing our use of single-use plastics.
Staff continue to tell us that they have high expectations of us as an organisation, and
want us to make similar changes and take the sustainability challenge seriously.
Declaring a climate emergency and committing to becoming carbon neutral by 2040
shows we recognise the threat to public health posed by climate breakdown, and that
we are committed to improving the health, wealth and wellbeing of our local popula-
tion for this and future generations.
Climate Emergency!
Friday 20th September represents an important day for the thousands of young peo-
ple across the country who are taking action to secure their own futures in the face
of environmental breakdown.
We are using this day as an opportunity to explain our climate emergency declaration
by holding an 11 minute teach-in about the health impacts of the climate emergency.
This will be delivered virtually at 11 a.m. to reflect the 11 years we have left to limit
the worst effects of global heating on population health.
Green Champions will be invited to view the teach-in and will be encouraged to share
it with their colleagues in their departments.
There will also be public information points at both the RVI and Freeman with related
information.
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Energy Update Energy Update
James Wright—Newcastle University Placement
As the final part of my MSc in Clean Tech-
nology at Newcastle University, I was lucky
enough to spend two months working with
the Sustainability Team at Newcastle Hospi-
tals.
I spent the time undertaking a series of en-
ergy audits in the Dental Hospital to identi-
fy potential opportunities to reduce the
buildings energy consumption. This in-
volved analysis of the use of current energy consuming systems in place, as well as
conversations with staff in the building to gather their thoughts regarding any issues
with energy in the building.
My final report gives the sustainability team an indication of where significant energy
inefficiencies and losses arise, and proposes actions that should be considered to im-
prove building performance.
This was a fantastic experience for me to understand the challenges that face a sustain-
ability team in the NHS, and how these differ from those in the private sector. Working
in the recently established Energy Team showed the huge task they are presented
with, but also allowed me to utilise a wide range of the knowledge I have gathered
during my Master’s course.
Overall the project was very insightful, as well as enjoyable and has given me a good
basis of knowledge to build on as I enter full-time employment.
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Energy Update Energy Update
Mobile Air Conditioning Units
During the hotter months we understandably receive questions about mobile air conditioning units.
These are not allowed for a number of reasons:
Increased energy consumption—They typically use 10-20 times more energy than a ceiling fan.
The Trust has very challenging carbon reduction targets and energy consumption makes up a large
proportion of that.
Greenhouse gases—They use powerful greenhouse gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which
trap thousands of times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Health— Portable units are often kept in storage to cope with temporary high temperatures. They
typically incorporate internal recirculation air filters and a drainage system to remove condensate
from the cooling coil. If unmanaged filters can become contaminated with pollutants which staff,
patients and visitors end up breathing in. These are not recommended in a healthcare setting.
Carbon Performance:
Emissions fell by 11% between 2017/18 & 2018/19
• 3,000 tCO2e (6%) saved while RVI CHP engines were being
replaced (June-October 2018) and grid electricity imported.
• 1,150 tCO2e (2%) saved from the new, more efficient RVI
CHP engines (November 2018-March 2019).
• 800 tCO2e (2%) saved from lower heat demand across the
estate. 2018/19 was 10% warmer than 2017/18.
• 680 tCO2e (1%) saved from general grid decarbonisation.
The carbon intensity of grid electricity fell by 20% between
2017/18 and 2018/19!
Energy Management Assessment:
We also continue to make progress to embed energy
management best practice across our organisation—particularly
focussing on improved metering and energy data monitoring to
identify energy saving opportunities, and ensuring low energy,
low carbon considerations are weaved into capital programmes
and procurement decisions.
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Waste Update
Plastic-free Healthcare
Health Care Without Harm Europe is a European coalition of environmental and health
organisations, working to transform health care so that it reduces its environmental foot-
print.
Newcastle Hospitals have submitted an expression of interest in
becoming a partner organisation working on a pilot project to
transform the use of plastic within the healthcare sector in Eu-
rope.
If successful we will receive support to transform the
current practice through research, recommendations,
education and innovation.
We’re sure you will agree this is a very exciting oppor-
tunity and we’ll keep you updated as we find out if we
are successful!
This years Waste Awareness Week will be held from 11th to the 15th
November. This time the focus will be on delivering some education
and training sessions for staff to attend at lunchtime and we are even
able to offer sandwiches, tea and coffee for attendees as an added
incentive!!
These sessions will be advertised nearer the time so please keep your eye out for them
and tell your colleagues to come along too.
As well as getting across the serious issues we will also be telling people about some of
the more weird and wonderful things we have had to dispose of!
Waste Awareness Week 2019
Sales records show that since
the 25p discount for re-usable
cups was introduced, staff
have prevented 20,000 dis-
posable cups from being
thrown away by bringing
their own re-usable cup.
Excellent!!
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Waste Update
Intranet—front
page
In Brief Intranet—waste
pages
Matron’s forum Sister’s Forum Attend meetings as
needed
Waste Audits Waste Policy Respond to direct
queries to Environ-
ment inbox
Waste Communications
When it comes to getting messages on waste out to our large and varied workforce we
use a variety of methods:
Of course there is this publication, Green News. Other ways we get our message out in-
clude:
In your role as a
Green Champion
it helps us greatly
if you can look out
for these messag-
es and pass them
on to colleagues
in your depart-
ment.
Performance Report—Graph to show progress towards targets for waste disposal
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Research and Innovation Hub
Maggie Fearby, Research Nurse for Diabetes and Endo-
crine, kindly took the time to speak to us about a sugges-
tion she put forward through the Research & Innovation
Tracker that has recently come to fruition.
After becoming aware of the large number of plastic bags
used by pharmacy to provide drugs to patients, Maggie
decided to put the idea forward to make a change to pa-
per bags, for environmental and cost saving reasons.
She recently found out that the idea has been taken forward and paper bags have re-
placed the majority of bags, and where plastic bags need to remain due to the size
and volume of some products, they are now recyclable.
Since the start of the project 3 months ago 5000 paper bags have been used in place
of plastic!
Alongside Maggie, Lesley Peel, Operations Director for Pharmacy, worked hard to find
a suitable paper bag alternative and undertook a trial to determine whether the pro-
ject could be rolled out.
Ideas, suggestions and queries can be submitted via Research & Innovation Tracker
http://innovation.app or e mailed to [email protected].
“The innovation tracker was really easy to use, I just typed in my idea and pressed
submit”.
The Research and Innovation hub welcome all ideas and say “it’s great to see this sub-mission, which was sign posted via the Research & Innovation Tracker, come to frui-tion and be such a great success”
Sustainability Case Study
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Green Impact
As part of our Climate Emergency declaration we are collaborating with the University and City Council to commit to delivering a zero carbon Newcastle but every-one has a role to play in delivering sustainable care.
To make changes in your area and get recognition at our #Shine end of year awards ceremony we’d love you to sign yourselves and colleagues up to become a Green Im-pact team. There are already 23 teams signed up – join now!
Green Impact is a staff competition to engage different departments/teams in sustaina-bility. There is an online workbook with different actions for team to complete, which is split into different levels and get a little harder as you progress.
The workbook is bespoke to Newcastle Hospitals, and is relevant for both clinical and non-clinical areas. Contact the sustainability team for more information – [email protected]
2019 NUTH travel survey
For your chance to win a £100 or £50 Intu voucher, please complete
our travel survey www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NUTHtravel19.
We want to understand how you currently travel for work so we can calculate our carbon
footprint from travel.
The survey will also help us understand how we can support you to use sustainable and
active travel where possible.
Please share this link with your colleagues in your department so we can get the best data
possible.
Get involved…
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Hopper changes
The new Trust Hopper service has now begun and runs between the Freeman and the
RVI every 20 minutes with new earlier starting times and later finishing times.
The Hopper service no longer stops at CAV, however there are travel options available
to staff who either work on park on this site.
Further details about the changes, along with frequently asked questions, are available
on the intranet here.
Travel & Transport News
Freeman Hospital to RVI
Leazes Wing via RVI Pea-
cock Hall
RVI Leazes Wing to Free-
man Hospital via RVI Pea-
cock Hall
RVI Peacock Hall to Free-
man Hospital
0640 0640 0642
0700 0700 0702
0720 0720 0722
0740 0740 0742
Every 20 minutes Every 20 minutes Every 20 minutes
Last service departs 1920 Last service departs 1920 Last service departs 1922
Arriva service 47
The Arriva 46 service has now changed to the 47. The ser-
vice will run between CAV and Haymarket bus station via
the RVI and all journeys will be operated by full size single-
deck vehicles to ensure there is enough space, especially at
peak times.
The full timetable can be found here
www.arrivabus.co.uk/nuthnhs
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From Green Champions...
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Pete and Penny
The 18 Week Pathway Team at RVI
sent us a picture of rescued seagull
chicks that fell from the roof on to the
ledge outside their office window.
They have been christened Pete and
Penny and were
last reported to be
doing well after
being fed on bana-
na and hedgehog
food along with
water.
Does anyone else
have any tales of rescued wildlife to
share? We’d love to hear.
Eco-bricks in Neurophysiology, RVI
The department’s Green team is known as the Bin Divas for a very good reason –
Green Champions in this department are often to be found with heads in bins, check-
ing for items that have been wrongly disposed of, or for non- recyclable plastics that
we are making Eco-Bricks with. The latter has radically reduced their general waste –
so much so that one of two bins in their seminar room is no longer required.
They hope that this should produce a saving for waste disposal and would like us to
better publicise the idea. Visit www.ecobricks.org for more information on how to
make these out of otherwise non-recycled plastics and where the local collection
points are.
Completed Eco-Bricks are sent abroad and used to build furniture, schools and hous-
es.
This photo is of an Eco-Brick being made in the Clinical
Coding office, RVI,
who also take part
in the scheme.
The Neurophysiolo-
gy department has
also started col-
lecting empty coffee cups from the waiting
rooms and taking them down to the Costa out-
let weekly.
Costa will recycle any company’s takeaway
coffee cup. Coffee cups are not recyclable in
the mixed recycling collection.
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You may have
noticed a num-
ber of TerraCy-
cle recycling
points cropping up across the hospi-
tal sites.
TerraCycle offer free recycling pro-
grammes to help collect and recycle
hard-to-recycle waste (waste not
typically recycled as part of mixed
recycling collections).
So far in the Trust we are aware of
the following collections taking
place:
Dental packaging and products,
crisp packets, snack wrappers, and
pet food pouches.
If you know of any more please let
us know!
If you are interested TerraCycle
have a large selection of items they
can collect and take away for recy-
cling and you can earn points which
are redeemable for charity.
Feel free to set these up in your de-
partments and don’t forget to let us
know so we can share via Green
News.
The latest collection taking place is
organised by Debbie Brien, Infor-
mation Governance Officer at Re-
gent Point and is for crisp, choco-
late snack and biscuit wrappers.
TerraCycle
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Being Green in Autumn—by Julia Chapman, Neurophysiology
Autumn is by far my favourite season, but it can disappear far too quickly in the run up to Halloween, Bonfire night and Christmas, without you noticing it, so here are my thoughts on enjoying the season to the full (and saving some money!).
Take a Hike!! Getting out of that sweaty gym (or off that sofa!) and going for a walk in the gorgeous colours of Autumn will keep you fit, reduce stress, and promote well-being that no amount of running on a treadmill or binge watching Netflix will match. As we all work long hours, getting some natural sunlight is a real mood booster, and a valuable source of Vitamin D.
Autumn Foods. It’s important to take advantage of local produce in your local area. It’s a great way to enjoy the experience of being outdoors and handpicking multiple foods e.g. Apples and blackber-ries are everywhere, and it’s so easy to pick and make your own de-licious Sloe gin in time for this Christmas (Christmas presents sort-ed).
Heating. Leaving your heater on can cost both you and the environ-ment a tremendous amount. It’s best to run your heater on a lower setting and only when you active-ly need it, so try bundling up - who doesn’t like wrapping themselves up in a blanket, drinking hot
chocolate and reading a good book? So Hygge! Also, if your windows aren’t properly sealed/ insulated, you’re letting a lot of energy go out the window, literally.
Compost Yard Waste and Leaves. Burning leaves is harmful to the environment and filling up yard waste bins adds up to major space taken at the landfill. Don’t miss out on a great opportunity to start an easy composting system with those excess leaves. Your garden-
ing will benefit greatly from the nutrient rich result of composting yard waste, and you’ll never have to buy expensive bags of compost again.
And, for parents of school kids: Host a Swap Party. Back to school is a great time to get all your friends together and swap kids (and your!) clothes to get new clothes and give away what your kids have already grown out of. Reusing instead of buying new is a great way to save money and to take a more environmentally friendly ap-proach to school shopping.
Navigate Safe and Sustainable Travel to School. Start a carpool to cut down on the number of cars going to school, or consider finding a safe bike route that families can ride together on. If your kids take the bus to school, try bundling up and walking, rather than driving, to the stop.
Pack Lunch the Reusable Way. Reusable lunchboxes and utensils will cut down on waste in a big way. Many lunch containers now offer smaller containers (check out stainless steel options) within the box itself, perfect for snacks, sandwiches, and any other treats you pack for your kids at school.