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Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Yorkshire Forward and NHS CPC “green” the supply chain
13/07/2010
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Yorkshire Forward and the NHS CPC (Commercial Procurement Collaborative) are rising to the carbon footprint challenge facing the NHS and worked in partnership to organise an event to “green” the local supply chain.
The aim of the ‘Be Green’ event was to persuade current and future local suppliers of hospital goods and services to future-proof their business by functioning more sustainably and reducing their environmental impact.
Katarina McCartney, Sustainable Development Manager from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, felt the Be Green event was a turning point in their efforts to function more sustainably; “As a Trust, we are moving forward with our sustainability agenda, looking at how we provide our services and making them more efficient and less resource intensive where possible. Our Sustainable Development Programme includes our Be Green campaign, which is our tool for communicating with our staff, patients, visitors and partners.
“The Be Green Team planned this event with the aim of providing an opportunity for our suppliers to find out about the huge amount of ‘green’ guidance and support available both here in Sheffield and nationally. Hopefully the event has provided the attendees with the motivation and information needed to begin building sustainability into their business processes. It was a very enjoyable event which gave us a good insight into the levels of awareness of our suppliers and their desire to improve and Be Green. By working together, the Trust and the businesses we work with can identify and develop opportunities to further improve on the sustainability of Sheffield City.”
Iain Thompson, Non-Executive Director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said; “As one of the largest organisations in Sheffield, we have a responsibility not just to provide Hospital care but also to play our part in protecting the environment. We were delighted to have met with over 60 of our suppliers to look at how they can provide us with more sustainable products and services to reduce the impact on the environment, energy use and CO2 emissions. We are confident that working together we can Be Green.”
Over 60 suppliers took part in Be Green, 47 of which were based in Yorkshire and the Humber. The event involved training and presentations on how to develop green projects and prosper in a low carbon economy and included contributions from local organisations such as CO2Sense Yorkshire. It also included stalls offering information and guidance encouraging local partnerships to develop sustainability in purchasing and procurement. Delegates were extremely positive about the event and the standard of information provided; “This was an encouraging event, we have just started on the journey of developing a sustainable development policy and it confirmed that we are heading in the right direction with it. The event really ignited our passion to be an advocate for green change.” Rachel Bridges and Emma-Kate Millar from SOVA.
In addition to raising awareness of carbon emissions the event provided a forum bringing together local businesses and services with NHS organisations, to share best practice, make valuable contacts and secure future work.
Caroline Carter-Smith, Yorkshire Forward Project Manager at NHS CPC, felt the event was a huge success; “It was great to see so many businesses from the region taking an interest in learning about how to “green” their supply chains in order to improve their chances of supplying to the NHS. This is exactly the sort of event which reflects the aims of “Growing the Region’s Businesses with NHS Investment”, the project we run on behalf of Yorkshire Forward, which seeks to support businesses from Yorkshire and Humber in winning NHS contracts, with the ultimate aim of shifting 1% of spend from suppliers outside to inside the region.”
