Positively Green

The high volumes of referrals to UHP’s skin service were beginning to cause long waits for benign and malignant diagnoses, but the UHP’s pioneering Skin Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists have significantly reduced these waiting times by switching to telephone appointments.

As we hurtle through autumnal November and begin to see the effects of winter, the sustainability team would like to highlight some seasonal changes you might see in and around our grounds and gardens.

Fight that climate anxiety induced paralysis by taking some action! Pop one of our brand-new Green Champion badges on your lanyard and get involved…

Let's not hibernate this winter! Complete Beryl's safety quiz for cycling in winter and get 20% off minute bundles. Get it right, get a discount. 

1^st November is Stress Awareness day, one of the many days in the year where the interests of the sustainability team and the wellbeing team overlap into a pleasing venn diagram. Whilst the link between wellbeing and stress is obvious, it might not be quite so clear why sustainability should have an interest in it.

October is always a busy time for the Sustainability Team, what with Unblocktober and Recycle Week, and this year was no different.

University Hospitals Plymouth has recently signed up to the GreenED programme, a Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) initiative to measure and reduce the environmental impact of Emergency Departments (ED) in the UK, thus driving environmentally sustainable practices within the specialty of Emergency Medicine.

Over the past 12 months, the Trust has continued to embed its sustainability programme into the organisation following the update of its Green Plan. Encompassing sustainability in its broadest sense, the programme aligns with initial expectations set out by NHS England for NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Systems in order to deliver a Net Zero Carbon NHS, as well as social value considerations commensurate with the Trust’s responsibilities as an anchor institution in Plymouth.

Acting responsibly and reducing the impact we have on our environment is an important consideration for the Trust, from the way we care for our patients, to ensuring we have a strong, financial and sustainable system in place. As a large acute healthcare organisation, we are committed to actively delivering our contribution to reduce carbon emissions and embed sustainability into everything we do. 

Rather than burn the multitude of plastic straws we have had stored since the plastic straw ban, our DWMS team had an inspired idea to domate them to our local scrap store.