Local Green Plan launched to support net zero ambition for NHS

Health and care partners in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes are marking Earth Day today with the launch of a Green Plan to support the NHS’s ambition to become the world’s first net zero carbon health service by 2040.

The Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Health and Care Partnership (ICS) has been working with partners including hospitals, community and mental health service trusts, councils and academic anchor institutions to set out how they will achieve their plans for carbon reduction.

The system-wide plan, which supports rapid action over the next 3 years (and beyond), includes practical steps such as greening the area around the hospital sites, reducing the distance people travel to appointments, increasing the use of online services for patients and green social prescribing, which encourages people to take up nature-based activities to improve their health and protect the environment.

Felicity Cox, Chief Executive Designate of the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, said:

“We know we are facing a climate emergency and on World Earth Day, we are planning how, as one of the largest employers in the world, we can make a difference and cut carbon emissions to net zero within the next two decades.”

“In Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, we have been working with partners and large organisations to see how we can adopt more sustainable practices. I am delighted with how we have worked with all our partners to identify innovative ways to deliver such an important target; in ways that can not only improve patient experience and improve quality of care, but also make a difference at a crucial time for our planet”.

For more information, visit https://blmkhealthandcarepartnership.org/publications/plans/