Environmental sustainability: top tips

Health systems across the UK have committed to reaching carbon net zero by 2045. This includes NHS England, NHS Scotland and Public Health Wales. This push from wider health organisations is a turning point. More than ever, Integrated Care Systems, and their equivalents, are asking to see environmental responsibility from their constituents.  

This is especially true for hospices commissioned by NHS England, whose ‘Carbon Footprint Plus’ includes commissioned services. 

Lots of people, including those working at hospices, care deeply about environmental issues. Taking environmental action will make these employees feel listened to. It can also make you a more attractive prospective employer [7].  

Staff surveys are a good way to learn whether your workforce thinks you are doing enough to be environmentally sustainable. 

The sustainability agenda also matters to donors. A survey by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising found that 24% of its members had been asked about their organisation’s environmental policies or practices by individual supporters/donors. The survey also found that a quarter of members had been asked about this by funders.  

Hospices rely a lot on charitable giving, so it’s important to have a good reputation when it comes to environmental issues.

Making your hospice building more sustainable is an investment, but it can also save you money in the long run. Sustainable design often focuses on energy efficiency. This assists in lowering your energy bills, as well as your carbon footprint. Other benefits of sustainable design include better thermal efficiency and increased building longevity.

Is your hospice making plans for a new building? Opting for sustainable design can make it easier to obtain planning permissions. Local authorities have their own green targets, so coming to them with a sustainable building plan will help your case. 

Multiple voices are more impactful than one. Find other like-minded people to champion environmental sustainability at your hospice. A small focused working group will help drive change and find sustainable solutions.  

The group should be as diverse as possible, including people from across the hospice. This ensures that every department can see how they fit into your hospice’s green plan. Departmental representatives will also have in-depth knowledge of how their department works. This means they can make informed suggestions on the most practical and impactful changes their team can make.

For palliative and end of life care professionals, environmental sustainability is often not an area of expertise. There is no shame in admitting this and acknowledging when you don’t have all the answers. The hospices we've spoken to have all emphasised the value of getting external help.

The internet is a fantastic resource when you’re just starting out. Many organisations publish their own sustainability work, including other healthcare providers. This can act as a helpful framework when putting together your own green agenda.

Seek out relevant training. Educating yourself on environmental issues can give you an idea of where your hospice is falling short. It also helps to give you authority on the topic within your organisation. This instils trust that the changes you’re implementing are meaningful. There are plenty of courses available, both online and in person. And you might be surprised at how many are free!  

It can be useful to talk to other organisations carrying out environmental work. Find out what has worked and failed for others and apply it to your situation. This can stop you ‘reinventing the wheel’ or wasting time pursuing ineffective solutions. People are often willing to chat and share their work if asked, so don’t be afraid to reach out, even if you don’t know someone. Consider looking beyond the hospice sector too. You can gain some really useful insights by talking to different organisations, such as your local acute hospital trust or care home.

Talking to other organisations like this can help you build a network of contacts. It can be helpful to ask these people questions and bounce ideas off of them. Your contacts can also provide a support network. Trying to tackle an issue as big as climate change can be a little overwhelming. Keeping in touch with others trying to do the same at their organisations can help you keep your resolve.

An easy way to get started with making these connections is to join an existing network. There are multiple online communities for people who want to make their organisations more environmentally friendly. For example, the Palliative Care Sustainability Network and our own Environmental Sustainability for Hospices Network.

Before any interventions, it is helpful to find out where your hospice is starting out. Finding out your carbon footprint and energy use can help you target your efforts. It also lets you see whether the changes you’re implementing actually have an effect. You can establish a baseline in a number of ways. An environmental audit is the most comprehensive, but often requires an external company to carry it out. There is also software online, like Smart Carbon, which can help you calculate a baseline yourself.

You may find that you don’t have the data required for a full audit, but you shouldn’t let this hold you back. Use what you can to establish a starting point. For example, you can calculate your kilowatt-hours per metre squared quite easily. Just take energy readings from your meters and dividing them by the size of your building. You can then benchmark yourself against other organisations to determine your energy efficiency.

Once you know how your hospice needs to change, you can start setting goals and timelines. It’s important to put together a visible action plan or framework for staff members to refer back to. This helps them understand how their actions are contributing to wider plans. A plan also allows you to easily track progress and adjust your approach if you aren’t reaching your targets.

The little things can make a significant impact. Don’t feel like you have to make big changes straight out of the gate. Small, practical changes such as getting rid of plastic cups, or adding reminders next to light switches, help to move your hospice in the right direction. If you look solely at the big picture things can feel a bit overwhelming. Focus on the quick wins that your organisation can make here and now.

These small, visible changes drive behaviour change. As staff members take note, a culture of change will be created at your hospice. Some of the best environmental solutions are those that people can get actively involved in. For example, putting a compost bin for teabags in the kitchen. Engaging with this change makes people feel like they are contributing to the wider sustainability agenda.

It is essential to provide regular updates on progress against your green plan. And make sure to celebrate your wins! Regular updates help to keep the green agenda on people’s minds, and doesn’t allow it to fade into the background. This helps secure continued support and eco-friendly behaviour changes.

Keep momentum going by putting sustainability on the agenda for meetings, even outside of your working group. Having dedicated time to talk about environmental sustainability gives the wider workforce a forum to raise issues and solutions they wouldn't otherwise. Set clear actions and goals after each meeting to keep the ball rolling.

Making changes to your supply chain can be an effective way to lower your overall carbon footprint. Review your suppliers when they are up for contract and check whether they have an environmental policy. Is there a more sustainable option? Adding questions on sustainability to your supplier interest form can help determine this. Laundry, waste management and recycling contracts are great places to start.

You may not always have control over who supplies your hospice, but make changes where you can. If you can't control the supplier, see if you can reduce the amount of supplies you use.  

Make sure people know that the environment is on the agenda for your hospice. Many people feel passionately about environmental issues. You can use this to your advantage. Being loud about your environmental work could make people more likely to volunteer at your hospice than they normally would be. In some cases you may even be approached by a volunteer who has skills relevant to your sustainable goals.  

Being vocal about your green plans can even get you free services. Helping out a hospice pro bono is great press for local companies, so they may approach you about providing their services at a discount (or entirely free if you’re lucky!). This happened for East Cheshire Hospice when a company offered to install an eco-friendly device worth £25,000 for free.

It’s good press for companies to support a hospice. Especially when simultaneously tackling an environmental issue. You may be surprised how many businesses are willing to help if you reach out to them. For example, East Cheshire Hospice approached a local environmental company, who offered to carry out an environmental audit for free.

You may want to look into whether any of your corporate partners use ‘carbon insetting’ to reduce their carbon footprint. This is a strategy by which companies implement sustainable projects within their value chain. If your hospice is part of one of these chains, it’s worth checking if you could get a project funded!

Getting buy-in from staff is essential, especially those at leadership levels. Make sure that everyone understands the vision and impact of your hospice’s green plans. Having a strong advocate for the green agenda amongst leadership can help make sure it is given time and attention at a strategic level. But don’t just focus on leadership. Everyone needs to support the plans and get involved to effectively create change.  

One way to secure buy-in is to make sure the wide range of benefits that come with environmental sustainability are known across the hospice. This helps to show how being environmentally sustainable directly helps the organisation. It’s also important to demonstrate the personal benefits of shifting behaviour to staff. You can even help encourage environmental action by finding schemes that incentivise people to be more sustainable. One such scheme is Climate Perks, which offers extra annual leave for people who use eco-friendly transport.

Introducing challenges can also be helpful, especially when trying to encourage a new behaviour change. Making it a competition between teams or individuals can get people invested, even if they aren’t passionate about environmental issues.  

It’s very easy to slip into a ‘doom and gloom’ narrative when talking about climate change. However, this can quickly become disheartening for those who are trying to make a difference. Don’t forget about all the scary statistics, but try to be optimistic. Focusing on the positives helps people feel like they’re moving in the right direction. By sharing what your hospice is doing well, the question becomes ‘how can we build on that?’.

At the same time, you should acknowledge that being environmentally sustainable is hard work. Oftentimes, the behaviour changes you’re asking of people make their job harder. For example, shifting away from paper resources might mean a team must learn a new digital system. Make sure to explain the reasoning behind requests. Show that you understand why changes may be difficult to implement. People will appreciate you acknowledging the effect of changes on their day-to-day.

Buildings are responsible for around 40% of global carbon emissions [8]. These emissions are made up of:

• operational carbon - the emissions from energy used to run the building
• embodied carbon – the emissions from materials and construction processes used to build or refurbish a building

If you’re planning a new building or refurbishment, there are some things you can do to reduce the carbon emissions of your hospice.

If you can, install energy efficient heat sources and add insulation to your building. This reduces your operational carbon emissions and saves you money on your energy bills. With the UK’s electricity grid aiming to reach net zero carbon by 2050, electrifying your heating systems could be one way to ‘decarbonise’ your hot water. It also ‘future-proofs’ your building by lessening reliance on fossil fuels. The best ‘low carbon’ heating method for you will depend on your area’s Local Area Energy Plan.  

Using low impact materials for construction projects can make a massive difference on your overall emissions. This is because less carbon is released during the creation and transportation of these building materials.