Healthy Futures

SDC Commissioner Anna Coote delivered the keynote presentation at Belfast Healthy Cities’ recent seminar on Climate Change and Health. Anna’s theme was the role of the National Health Service in tackling climate change.

The impact of the health and social care system can hardly be under-estimated. It employs some 60,000 people in Northern Ireland, absorbs around a half of the Executive’s departmental expenditure and contributes a very significant percentage of the region’s GDP.

Given the extent of its influence, the health services have the potential, therefore, to make a significant contribution to people’s health by supporting strong local economies, social cohesion and a healthy environment, a concept known in the NHS as Good Corporate Citizenship.

Certain diseases are increasing across the UK and Ireland. Mental health disorders affect far too many people here – the DHSSPS estimates that prevalence figures for mental health problems in Northern Ireland are 25% higher than in England. And we’re facing what the Chief Medical Officer has called an ‘obesity timebomb’ – 64% of men and 54% of women were either overweight or obese in the 2005 NI Health and Social Wellbeing Survey. Diabetes is also on the rise, with some 60,000 people in Northern Ireland suffering its effects.

Some of the key measures in the prevention of these illnesses are also the very cornerstones of sustainable development – eating fresh, nutritious, local food; promoting active travelling; encouraging a sustainable built environment; increasing people’s use of the natural environment and reducing greenhouse gases.

The Sustainable Development Commission and the Department of Health in England have developed the Good Corporate Citizenship Assessment model to help NHS organisations assess their own progress towards tackling these and similar issues. This resource provides healthcare organisations – and others – with advice to help them promote health, tackle health inequalities, save money and contribute to a healthy environment.

The self-assessment covers facilities management, procurement, transport, new buildings, employment and skills, and community engagement. It also provides managers with case studies, evidence of good practice, links to relevant policy and further guidance and an on-line test to measure your own performance. So far, over 504 organisations have registered to use the scheme, 249 of them part of the NHS, and this includes over half of all NHS Trusts in England.

Adopting good corporate citizenship makes good business sense as well. There will be financial savings with less spent on energy and waste disposal. Well-designed buildings – such as many of the new premises commissioned by Health Estates in Northern Ireland – will enhance staff morale. Good food and a healthy environment can speed patient recovery.

The NHS in England now has a dedicated Sustainable Development Unit; one of its first initiatives has been to measure the carbon footprint of the NHS and it is in the process of designing a carbon reduction strategy to reduce the size of its contribution to climate change.

» Further information about SDC’s Healthy Futures work programme or the Good Corporate Citizenship Assessment Model