We are refreshing our Green Plan

Our commitment to delivering care that supports the health of people and environment is stronger than ever; how this will look going forward will be set out in our refreshed Green Plan.

The current Green Plan can be found here. You can review our progress to date in our  latest Trust Annual Report.

We’re working on our updated Green Plan at the moment. We’re proud of how it aligns with the NHS 10-year plan, in particular more community-based care, better use of digital technology and a focus on prevention. These three pillars of the 10-year plan all speak to how we can do more to become a more sustainable healthcare provider and continue to deliver the care our patients need.

Our current Green Plan is valid until March 2026. As a system we are proposing to update our trust plans following the approval of our system-level plans to enable appropriate engagement and alignment. At SASH our Green Plan is due to go to Board in early 2026 for final sign-off and will be developed in line with the NHS England Green Plan refresh guidance. Once signed off we will make it available on our website.

In October 2020, the NHS committed to deliver the world’s first Net Zero Carbon health service, responding to climate change and improving health now and for future generations.

As a Trust, our Vision is “we will pursue perfection in the delivery of safe, high quality healthcare that puts the people in our community first”. We know that in order to truly achieve this, putting the people in our community first over the short, medium and long term, we must act now.

At Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust, we are continuing our journey to becoming a more sustainable healthcare provider. There is still much to do and this Green Plan aims to shift our programme into a new gear, showing leadership and responding to the ever more pressing issue of climate change and health.

As such, through our new Green Plan, we commit to meeting our part of the ambitious Net Zero Carbon targets set by NHS England Improvement (NHSEI). We have developed this Green Plan based on our Care Without Carbon framework for sustainable healthcare.

Our green plan

Our achievements

 

Paper reduction saving over 38,000kg in CO2 emissions and £10,000 a year
Switchover to LED lights saves hospital almost £35,000 and 41 tonnes of CO2
Award-winning virtual clinic prevents almost 13,000 hospital visits and saves over 110,000kg in CO2 emissions
SASH phases out anaesthetic gas desflurane, the most polluting anaesthetic