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Westminster Health Forum: The way forward for net-zero health services
Aneeta Cameron, PAGB consultant, attended the ‘Westminster Health Forum: the way forward for net zero health services’ on 20 April. The Forum was very NHS focused with much of the content not directly relevant to PAGB members; however, as part of an industry with a key role to play in reducing carbon emissions, we are committed to supporting and sharing efforts to improve sustainability across the healthcare system.Key points:
- The NHS in England is responsible for four to five percent of our carbon footprint, and they account for 40% of public sector emissions. In 2020, the NHS carbon footprint was estimated to be approximately the same as Denmark’s.
- Health care’s climate footprint is equivalent to 4.4% of global net emissions – this is not far off that of the aviation industry
- The NHS is looking at the ways in which it delivers services and how patients access these, including more focus on keeping people out of primary healthcare by focusing on diagnosis and keeping people healthier.
- NHS has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Health Organization. The NHS’s net zero programme is seen as an international leader in environmental change action.
- There is a direct correlation between climate crisis and health crisis. Heat related deaths are likely triple to 7,000 by 2050, for example
- Technology will play a greater role in future: for example, remote management technologies can remove the need for patients to attend routine outpatient appointments, alongside technologies that enable self care rather than health care professional enabled care.
- The Prince of Wales, with Astra Zeneca, launched the sustainable health systems task force under the sustainable markets initiative at COP26 last year. This initiative will look to accelerate the delivery of net zero patient-centric healthcare systems.
Download a transcript of the event and speaker slides 
Aneeta CameronPAGB consultantAneeta.Cameron@pagb.co.uk
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