What is sustainability?

​Sustainability means working within the financial, environmental and social resources available while continuing to deliver high quality services. Working in a sustainable way requires us to think of the financial, environmental and social impacts of our decisions and actions.

It requires us to think and plan for the long term. True sustainability allows us to not only reduce the negative impacts but to actually enhance the environment around us and support and improve the communities we work in and serve.

For more information about sustainability in the NHS, visit the Sustainable Development Unit website.

What we do

We are required to meet legislation including the Climate Change Act, The Environmental Protection Act and The Public Services (Social Value) Act. We do this through a range of policies and other tools.

Energy and carbon

The Trust's Energy and Carbon Management Policy outlines the Trust commitment to meeting the NHS target of reducing its carbon footprint by 34 per cent by 2020.

Each year, an update about the Trust's carbon profile is included within the annual report. Our current and previous annual reports are available within the key documents section of our website.

Find out what your carbon footprint is and find out how you can reduce it with this carbon calculator from the World Wildlife Fund: footprint.wwf.org.uk

Waste

Waste is managed through our waste management policy and procedures. The Trust uses the waste hierarchy to minimise waste as much as possible.

An internal furniture reuse scheme is in place for redistributing second hand furniture across the Trust.

Domestic waste is sent for recycling. The residual waste is sent for Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) processing where it is turned in to a block fuel. This means the majority of Trust domestic waste (over 90 per cent) is either recycled or recovered and importantly is diverted from landfill.