CLCH Green Team welcomes NHS England's National Chief Strategy Officer to Parson’s Green
NHS England's Chief Strategy Officer, Chris Hopson, and Robin Simpson, Head of the Greener NHS Analytics Team, paid a visit to Parson’s Green Health Centre earlier this month to learn more about the Trust’s ambition of becoming a leader in sustainability for NHS organisations.
Chris was welcomed by Tom Wright, Director of Sustainability at CLCH, and introduced to the CLCH and West London joint Sustainability Team who, throughout the course of the visit, talked to Chris about the Trust’s ambitions for the next three years as laid out in the Greener CLCH 2024-26 Green Plan. The team showcased its achievements to date, carbon footprint and net zero pathway, and the sustainability partnership with West London NHS Trust.
Severine Turgis, Energy and Estate Decarbonisation Manager, and Rob Stewart, Senior Estates and Facilities Manager, at CLCH then gave Chris a tour of the Parsons Green site where they talked about our site decarbonisation plans and the work we have done to make the building greener including:
- installing solar panels on the roof
- setting up electric vehicle charging points in the car park
- LED lighting
- cycle storage; and
- green spaces for staff.
CLCH is not only working on energy saving in its buildings to reduce carbon emissions, but the Trust has also been looking at what it can do clinically to support its green ambitions. We know that unnecessary glove use creates tonnes of waste and carbon emissions. Our ambitious ‘Gloves Off’ campaign was set up by the Infection Prevention and Control team to reduce the inappropriate use of non-sterile gloves.
We also know that metered dose inhalers represent 2% of emissions and that at least 60 plastic speculums are used in the sexual health service in south west London each week, in addition to numerous single use metal instruments. Anna Phelon, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Clinical Lead for Green, introduced Chris to the sustainable models of care used at CLCH. Anna spoke passionately about how the Trust is autoclaving for metal instruments, better clinical waste management, reducing prescribing high-carbon MDI inhalers, and how we are working with Southwest London Sexual Health team to look at greener options.
Anna said, “The visit from Chris Hopson and his team was a great opportunity for us to showcase how simple changes to the equipment we order or the way we dispose of clinical waste can have a positive impact on the environment.
“We received very positive feedback and were pleased to hear that CLCH are among the Trusts leading the field in some of this work,"
Following the tour of the building and presentations, Tom introduced Chris to Aniko Schwarc, Green Project Manager, who invited him for a walk and talk around Parsons Green with a group of Trust Green Champions. Over lunch with the champions, Chris and Robin were able to find out first-hand how passionate our Green Champions are about reducing emissions, making smarter use of our buildings, and supporting staff to choose greener travel options.
The visit continued into the afternoon with Dilek Sabris, Active Travel Officer, sharing highlights from the Active Travel programme and vehicle fleet conversion. Chris even tested one of the E-bikes that are offered to staff under the Trust’s bike trial and cycle to work schemes.
Once back inside, Mark Thomlinson, Head of Sustainability, and Adam Weber, Air Quality Strategy Lead, both from Hammersmith and Fulham Council spoke to Chris about the local authority’s plans to improve the accessibility of active travel and how it is tackling air pollution in the borough.
CLCH CEO James Benson and West London NHS Trust NED and Sustainability Committee Chair Paul Aylin joined the final part of the visit to discuss the advantages of the CLCH West London Sustainability Partnership, a unique collaborative working model between the two Trusts. It has been nearly a year since the partnership between the two Trusts started. A joint team, led by Tom Wright, has been recruited with a goal to maximise the opportunities of working together to address some of the challenges faced by both Trusts in terms of greener management of our respective estates and as a community provider Trust.
Chris Hopson said: “It was great to see how CLCH’s green team, green champions and wider staff are reducing carbon emissions in so many ways to help meet the NHS’s Net Zero target. The range of work that’s been undertaken is very impressive. From better insulated buildings, renewable electricity from solar and air-source heat pump energy, the roll out of healthy travel options for staff like e-bikes and more electric car charging, to greater recycling and less waste and single use of materials in routine clinical procedures. This is not only improving the health of patients and staff but is also reducing the trust’s costs and energy bills. The NHS’s carbon footprint is bigger than a country the size of Croatia and the trust’s work is playing an important part in reducing this to zero. Thank you!”
Paul Aylin said: “We are very pleased to have formed a partnership for environmental sustainability with CLCH. The visit from Chris Hopson has been an opportunity to show how working together puts us in a much stronger position to tackle the net zero challenge through pooling of resources and sharing of best practice."
Tom was delighted to have the opportunity to showcase to NHS England the work of the Trust and the Sustainability partnership for delivering the NHS net zero plan. After the visit Tom said, “It was a pleasure to welcome Chris Hopson, the NHS Chief Strategy Officer, to visit our sustainability team for the day. CLCH Is working hard on the delivery of the Green Plan, and we can be proud of our achievements so far. Chris asked lots of excellent questions and there was great discussion about how we can play our part in tackling this major environmental and health challenge. At the end of the day the whole team felt energised and inspired to continue our work for the benefit of staff, patients and the wider community."
