Senior NHS cancer clinicians and managers have pledged to reduce carbon emissions and improve the sustainability of the healthcare organisations they work for.

The pledge came in a two-page document agreed at the end of a one-day national summit held at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) last week to explore the carbon consequences of modern cancer care. The summit was organised jointly by UCLH and the Campaign for Greener Healthcare.

The high-level group agreed to lead the transformation of cancer services into sustainable, low carbon healthcare by persuading their organisations to adopt a number of measures (if they have not already done so), such as;

• developing a carbon reduction strategy,
• signing up to the 10:10 climate change campaign, and
• supporting the research, dialogue and action necessary to create environmentally sustainable cancer services.

The summit was opened by UCLH chief executive Sir Robert Naylor, who was one of the first NHS chief executives to sign up to the 10:10 campaign. The summit was inspired by Sir Muir Gray, director of Knowledge into Action, the charity behind the Campaign for Greener Healthcare.

Explaining the impetus for the summit, the clinical director for cancer services at UCLH, Mark Emberton, said: “In healthcare, we are currently not accounting for the cost of carbon, a finite energy resource which is set to become more costly since it is being capped to minimise climate change. The cost of carbon emissions associated with healthcare delivery may well be a key factor in determining funding in the not-too-distant future.

“If an ageing population wishes to be looked after as well as they possibly can, at a time when there are increasing pressures on the healthcare expenditure, then cancer care needs to be designed and configured in a manner that is as sustainable as possible,” Mr Emberton said. “At UCLH we plan to open a new cancer centre in 2012 which has been designed to be the most sustainable building in the NHS by a long way. It will set a new benchmark for buildings in the NHS as it will have a low-carbon impact both in its construction as well as in its running.”

The NHS in England is currently responsible for 21 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year, amounting to a quarter of all public sector carbon emissions, but it is committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 80% by 2050.

“High-carbon lifestyles are a cause of cancer and chronic disease and, indeed, many preventative measures for cancer encourage low-carbon lifestyles. Moreover, lower carbon cancer care can, in itself, contribute to prevention,” Frances Mortimer, medical director of the Campaign for Greener Healthcare, said. “Reducing carbon in cancer services presents an opportunity to improve quality and cost efficiency, through moving from high carbon institutions to flexible, low carbon systems of care.”

The meeting noted that the overall incidence of cancer in the UK was rising despite efforts at prevention. On a positive note, however, there were many changes already under way in cancer services which were likely to reduce the carbon footprint. Examples included supporting patients to take a greater role in managing their own health, reducing unnecessary follow-up appointments, and bringing care closer to home.



Source: UCLH

Further info:

1. Counting the Carbon Cost of Cancer Care was held on 5 March 2010. Among the organisations represented at the meeting were: Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, ARUP, the National Cancer Survivor Initiative, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the NHS Sustainability Unit, Macmillan Cancer Support, the UCL Institute for Human Health & Performance, The NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC), UCL Partners, NHS Bristol, Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Map of Medicine, BUPA and Hopkins Architects.

2. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), situated in the West End of London, is one of the largest NHS trusts in the United Kingdom and provides first class acute and specialist services. The Trust was named NHS hospital trust of the year, according to the Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2009 and in the same year recorded its best ever performance in the annual NHS ratings receiving ‘excellent’ for its use of resources and also a rating of 'excellent' for the quality of services. The new state-of-the-art University College Hospital which opened in 2005, is the focal point of the trust alongside five cutting-edge specialist hospitals. The Trust is committed to research and development and forms part of UCL Partners which in March 2009 was officially designated as one of the UK's first academic health science centres by the Department of Health. UCLH works closely with UCL – recently designated the fourth best university in the world in the Times Educational Supplement – translating research into treatments for patients. www.uclh.nhs.uk

3. 10:10 climate change campaign is a national campaign inviting individuals and organisations to sign up to reduce their carbon footprint by 10% in 2010. http://1010uk.org/ UCLH was one of the first organisations to sign up.

4. The Campaign for Greener Healthcare works with partners to transform healthcare for a sustainable future. www.greenerhealthcare.org

5. The UCL Lancet Commission has identified climate change as “the biggest global health threat in the 21st century” through changing patterns of disease, water and food insecurity, vulnerable human settlements, extreme weather events and population migration. [UCL Lancet Commission (2009) Managing the health effects of climate change. The Lancet, 373(9676), 1693-1733.]

6. These impacts have their greatest effect on the poor, exacerbating health inequities, and leading physicians worldwide have called on governments to act decisively on climate change. [Politicians must heed health effects of climate change. BMJ 2009;339:b3672]

7. Clinical services will come under progressively greater pressure to reduce their carbon footprint over the next 10 years, in order to comply with UK government targets on greenhouse gas emissions, which are mirrored in the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy (2009). [NHS Sustainable Development (2010) Update: NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy. Available at http://www.sdu.nhs.uk/page.php?page_id=160]

8. Many of the risk factors for cancer and chronic disease result from fossil fuel use in personal transport and in production of energy-dense foods. Increasing physical activity and reducing over-consumption, particularly of meat and dairy produce, can benefit both climate change mitigation and the prevention of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. [The Public Health Benefits of Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, The Lancet, Volume 374 (Issue 9705), 25 November 2009. Available at http://www.thelancet.com/series/health-and-climate-change] and [Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health. Anthony J McMichael et al, The Lancet. 2007. Vol. 370 p1253] and [Meat, Fish, and Colorectal Cancer Risk: The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Norat-T et al, J Natl Cancer Inst 2005 97:906-16]

9. Reforms to cancer services should lead to a reduction in carbon emissions. [Department of Health (2009) Cancer Reform Strategy – second annual report. Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_109338]