Decarbonizing the UK’s healthcare service is a complex task given the numerous factors at play. According to reports, the NHS is responsible for 4% of the country’s carbon footprint.
Digging deeper into what makes up that 4% total, 60% of it comes from the NHS’ global supply chain, around a quarter comes from medicines (including anesthetic gases, most notably nitrous oxide) and 15% is from healthcare buildings and facilities.
Tackling all of the above in tandem is vital to give the NHS the best chance of achieving net zero and to ensure greater resilience, agility and capacity for healthcare provision. It is also important to remember that emission levels and population health are closely interconnected. What is needed is a truly strategic and multi-faceted approach.
Step one: repurposing and relocating hospital care
By embedding healthcare services into communities, we can cultivate a new model of care that reduces heavy reliance on hospitals. This shift creates two benefits: it reduces the pressure on hospitals, and it lowers the carbon emissions associated with hospital stays.
For example, Arcadis delivered the Bevan Health and Wellbeing Centre in Tredegar for the NHS Wales Planning Framework. This saw the creation of a new “super-surgery” that co-locates various outpatient services that together can help solve local challenges.
Step two: retrofit existing healthcare infrastructure
Despite plans for 40 “new” hospitals under the government’s Health Infrastructure Plan, which has been beset by delays and funding roadblocks, the initial focus must be on undertaking thoughtful retrofits of existing premises as much as possible.
The recently launched NHS Net Zero Building Standard offers detailed guidance for reducing building energy demands and embodied or whole-life carbon, while enhancing patient care. To ensure optimum energy efficiency – a key step to decarbonization – the role of technological innovation cannot be overstated.
Meeting the NHS net zero targets within the set timeframe is a tremendous challenge and will always require carbon sequestration through means such as smart material choices, but it is nevertheless very useful to have such a goal to aim for. We can create real action by setting out a strategy and finding new ways to offset the significant carbon impact of the healthcare industry.
A longer version of this viewpoint was published by Building on 2 August 2023.