Sustainability
Sustainability means spending public money well; the smart and efficient use of natural resources and building healthy, resilient communities.
By making the most of social, environmental and economic assets we can improve health in the immediate and longer term, even in the context of the rising cost of natural resources, and we can also help protect the environment for future generations.
Surrey Heartlands ICS understands the challenge and enormous complexity that the issues of climate change bring. The impact of climate change has and will continue to affect the patients and public within the Heartlands area making it one of the highest priorities for us.
Climate change is one of the most significant challenges to our health and as the organisation responsible for the delivery of care from all the partners and providers within Surrey, we take this challenge seriously and believe fervently that by making Surrey Heartlands as environmentally and socially sustainable as we can we are also delivering the highest quality of healthcare as possible.
We have made great progress in enacting sustainable change across the Surrey Heartlands region since the Green Plans inception, innovating how we model and deliver care in all aspects of sustainability through suitable change and innovation.
We are fortunate that we are based in a region with people and providers passionate about delivering tangible and real change in the field of sustainability. We seek to work alongside these trusts in as collaborative and supportive manner as possible to fulfil theirs and our aims together.
With responsibility for 12 different partners and providers and over 100 GP practices there is a significant carbon footprint that we as an ICS produce. As significant contributors to the county’s footprint, this comprehensive strategy will enable us to start enacting the change necessary to reduce the impact of climate change in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner.
Sustainability must be embedded in everything that we do. It must become a core consideration in the decisions we make and the actions that we take to improve health outcomes for the patients and residents of Surrey Heartlands.
Our aims for sustainable healthcare are already aligned with other ambitions within the ICS, from improved efficiencies in our management of energy through better patient outcomes from refined prescribing techniques, ensuring equitable healthcare across every aspect of the provision we deliver, to the collaborative work we undertake with our County Council colleagues and fellow ICSs across the south east region and nationally.