Net Zero Health and Care Pathway Tool

The NHS is committed to becoming the world's first net zero national health service by 2040. With this commitment comes a series of objectives, actions and reporting responsibilities for all health and care organisations. But understanding, evaluating and managing the carbon footprint of care delivery is not always simple.

The Net Zero Health and Care Pathway Tool uses a global standard for calculating greenhouse gas emissions and applies this across an entire care pathway. Not only does this simplify measurement and reporting but by capturing carbon cost across care pathways, rather than at a functional or departmental level, plans and performance can be more accurately evaluated to improve decision-making and accelerate system-wide progress.

The importance of decarbonising healthcare

As one of the nation's largest employers and resource consumers, the NHS accounts for approximately 4% of the UK’s carbon footprint. Reducing emissions is critical to combatting climate change and preserving the environment for future generations. But the NHS’s sustainability ambition goes beyond environmental stewardship, it also aims to improve population health, reduce inequalities and enhance the overall quality of care.

1. Health improvement: Lowering carbon emissions benefits public health by reducing pollution and associated health risks including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
2. Economic efficiency: Sustainable practices, including energy-efficient technologies and waste reduction, can cut long-term operational costs, releasing resources for patient care.
3. Social impact: Decarbonisation efforts also create social value by fostering community resilience, creating jobs in the green economy and promoting social innovation.

Achieving net zero in the NHS

To deliver its net zero plan, the NHS is focusing on several key actions: transitioning to renewable energy sources, embedding sustainable procurement practices, promoting the use of green transport and implementing waste management strategies. Healthcare commissioners and providers are required to report their annual carbon emissions to NHS England, detailing progress against net zero targets. This reporting process can be time and resource intensive, requires a level of sustainability expertise and uses data that is not always readily available and accurate.

The Net Zero Health and Care Pathway Tool

The Net Zero Pathway Tool was designed to help healthcare organisations understand, report and manage the carbon footprint of their care pathways.

By working in partnership with Mitie, the UK’s leading facilities management company, we have developed a prototype tool which uses a standardised best-in-class approach to calculating greenhouse gas emissions. The tool has undergone independent peer review from the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition, representing members from across the healthcare sector.

Integrating this tool into your transformation plans will enable you to monitor and evaluate every aspect of service delivery for environmental impact, optimising the impact of sustainability initiatives as part of your roadmap to net zero.

Carbon footprint mapping
Our tool provides a comprehensive view of carbon emissions across scopes 1, 2, and 3 (covering direct emissions, indirect emissions from purchased anergy and other indirect emissions along the supply chain) within care pathways and services. It meticulously calculates a carbon emissions profile for every stage of the healthcare journey from patient diagnosis and treatment to discharge services and long-term care. The data used incudes consumables, equipment, food, travel, energy, water, waste and cleaning.

Additionally, the tool features cost comparison capabilities, presenting carbon intensity per pound (£) and per patient, delivering invaluable insights into the greenhouse gas performance of different health and care pathways.

Predictive analytics
As well as establishing a baseline for carbon emissions, the tool dynamically assesses changes in care pathway interventions and their environmental impact. This identifies gaps and risks in existing pathways while offering actionable insights for achieving decarbonisation objectives through scenario modelling and impact assessments.

Real-time monitoring and measurement
Our tool tracks progress and measures the impact of implemented strategies in real-time, ensuring alignment with broader sustainability goals. The Net Zero Pathway Tool also employs our comprehensive benefit measurement methodology which includes clinical quality, population outcomes, resource efficiency, carbon reduction and social innovation.

This multi-goal approach supports organisations to manage the risks inherent in transforming services, ensuring that decarbonisation strategies do not compromise the overall quality of care.

Net Zero Health and Care Pathway Tool benefits include:

• A comprehensive view of carbon emissions across scopes 1, 2 and 3 within care pathways
• Streamlined and accurate reporting that complies with NHS England requirements and guidance
• Industry-leading expertise in greenhouse gas emission measurement
• Identification of cost saving opportunities within and across pathways
• Reduced time and effort to collect, organise and cleanse data
• Ongoing, real-time tracking of progress and measurement of impact to optimise decision-making.

Supporting a strategic approach to decarbonisation

To derive the greatest benefits, the Net Zero Pathway Tool should be deployed as part of a strategic approach which overlays decarbonisation activities onto existing transformation plans. You can read more about our strategic approach to decarbonisation, and how this has been applied to the cancer pathway, here.

We offer a variety of support packages to suit different organisational needs and scales, ranging from remote reviews and benchmarking to long-term planning. Each package is designed to provide transparency, optimisation and in-depth analysis to support informed decision-making and strategic planning.

Be part of the development journey

The Net Zero Health and Care Pathway Tool prototype has already been peer reviewed and tested across a number of pathways. But we are looking for more partners to help refine the tool before we move on to the next stage of development – embedding the tool within an Enterprise Performance Management environment to improve modelling, forecasting and benchmarking capabilities.

We are offering access to the prototype version, free of charge, for trusts or organisations wanting to be at the forefront of sustainable healthcare innovation. Click here to secure your spot at our upcoming demonstration webinar 'Pioneering Sustainable Healthcare' on Thursday 19 September 2024 at 10.30am.

Click here to see our Proposal for Early Adopters

Together, we can create a fairer, better, greener health and care system.