Climate Emergency and Healthcare in the NHS (CLEANER NHS)

包括医院和医疗设施在内的医疗保健环境在碳排放方面发挥着重要作用。该部门必须脱碳，因为它对环境造成重大影响，天气和气候灾害的影响增加了突发卫生事件，并影响到卫生保健基础设施，降低了提供全面健康保险的能力。在此背景下，NHS制定了一个目标，旨在到2040年实现其控制的排放和到2045年实现其可能影响的排放的碳中和，并通过《2022年卫生与保健法》制定了将净零承诺纳入立法框架的途径。本研究项目旨在建立有效的政策反馈机制，以增强弹性净零排放标准，利用同一枚硬币的两面：在医疗保健环境中，与净零排放相一致的缓解和适应战略。项目合作伙伴诺森伯兰郡医疗保健NHS基金会信托基金最近通过在诺森伯兰郡和泰恩赛德郡的总部和9座二级医疗大楼同时实施项目，启动了脱碳行动计划，展示了对净零议程的积极承诺。建筑环境是碳排放的主要贡献者之一，通过能源消耗、废物产生、建筑和资源密集型材料的使用。该研究项目将通过评估NHS近年来采取的重大举措来解决这一问题，这些举措包括采用能源效率、向可再生能源过渡以及优化暖通空调系统。然而，由于建筑年龄和风格的多样性，房地产投资面临着巨大的挑战，包括绝缘不良和玻璃效率低下等问题。这些挑战因运营用途和需求的变化、糟糕的碳记录和监测而变得更加复杂，突显了在该部门实现碳中和的复杂性。除了上述挑战之外，NHS碳中和目标实现的主要障碍在于其结构设置的复杂性，决策依赖于官僚主义，以及在将行动与严格的净零目标实现时间表相一致方面缺乏精确的实施。值得注意的是，2023年引入的首个“NHS净零建筑标准”是关键的一步。然而，该标准目前处于早期阶段，需要在随后的几年中根据反馈、最佳实践和数据收集进行迭代改进。此外，除了标准的过早之外，还明显缺乏建立的反馈机制。因此，即使地方NHS信托开始制定和实施他们的脱碳计划，仍然没有途径系统地将结果、评估和经验教训整合到国家层面的有凝聚力的反馈系统中。这就提出了将理论框架转化为实际的日常应用的关键问题。它促使人们对不同项目类型的执行效率进行调查，在整体指标管理系统内建立健全的跟踪、测量和评估机制，并将成果和经验教训收集和整合回国家气候行动框架。解决这一系列广泛的问题对于NHS有效实现其目标至关重要。

Healthcare settings, encompassing hospitals and medical facilities, play a substantial role in carbon emissions. The imperative to decarbonize this sector arises from the significant environmental impact it poses as well as the effects of weather and climate hazards which increase health emergencies, and affect healthcare infrastructure, reducing the ability to offer comprehensive health coverage. In this context, the NHS has established a target aiming to achieve carbon neutrality for the emissions that it controls by 2040, and for the emissions that it can influence by 2045, setting out a pathway for incorporating net-zero commitments into legislative framework through the 'Health and Care Act 2022'.This research project aims to establish effective policy feedback mechanisms for resilient net-zero standard enhancements, using the two sides of the same coin: mitigation and adaptation strategies consistent with net-zero in healthcare settings. The project partner, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, has recently demonstrated a proactive commitment to the net-zero agenda by initiating the establishment of decarbonization action plans through simultaneous project implementations across its head office and 9 secondary care buildings within Northumberland and Tyneside.The built environment is one of the major carbon emissions' contributors through energy consumption, waste generation, construction, and the use of resource-intensive materials. This research project will address this by assessing the significant initiatives that the NHS has undertaken in recent years, through diverse actions such as the adoption of energy efficiency, the transition to renewable energy sources, and the optimization of HVAC systems. However, the estate investment confronts substantial challenges due to the diversity in building age and styles, encompassing issues like poor insulation and inefficient glazing. These challenges are compounded by variations in operational uses and demands, poor carbon recording and monitoring, underscoring the complexity of achieving carbon neutral in this sector.In addition to the aforementioned challenges, a primary impediment to the NHS carbon neutral goal attainment lies in the intricacies of its structural settings, decision-making reliant on bureaucracy, and the absence of precise implementation in aligning actions with the stringent timelines mandated for the net-zero goal achievement. Notably, the introduction of the inaugural 'NHS Net Zero Building Standard' in 2023 represents a pivotal step. However, the standard is currently in its early stages, requiring iterative refinement over subsequent years based on feedback, best practices, and data collection.Moreover, in addition to the prematurity of the standard, there is a conspicuous absence of an established feedback mechanism. Consequently, even as local NHS trusts embark on developing and implementing their decarbonization plans, there remains no avenue to systematically integrate outcomes, evaluations, and lessons learned into a cohesive feedback system at the national level. This raises critical questions about the translation of theoretical frameworks into practical, everyday applications. It prompts inquiry into the efficiency of execution across diverse project typologies, the establishment of robust tracking, measurement, and evaluation mechanisms within a holistic metric management system, and the collection and integration of outcomes and lessons learned back into a national framework for climate action. Addressing this extensive array of questions is imperative for the NHS to effectively achieve its target.