News

As I’m sure most of you aware the ICS’ became statutory bodies in August this year, and the North East and North Cumbria ICS has set ambitious targets to become the greenest region in England by 2030. The impressive 3 year plan identifies 8 priority areas across all aspects of healthcare.

This is, without doubt, a time of change and turbulence, and it is an exciting opportunity for the NHS organisations across the region to step up and take decisive action to reduce their environmental impact. The Green Plan 2022-2025 can be found by following the link below, and a summary of what each of the region’s trust are doing to support the plan can be found here

Green Plan Booklet

The pioneering priority setting partnership between Greener Operations and the James Lind Alliance has come to a conclusion, and the “top 10” research priorities for sustainable perioperative practice have been defined.

This is a pivotal piece of work that will help guide the future of sustainable surgery research and innovation for years to come. For sustainable change to be credible, it has to be evidenced based, and exercises like this partnership ensure that the future of sustainability research is directed to issues that matter most to the people who will use the research. The “top 10” research priorities can be found by clicking here

Minna Eii, Advanced Pharmacist Practitioner and FoSH committee member, chaired the 2022 Great North Pharmacy Research Collaborative Conference at the Hilton Hotel, Gateshead. This year’s theme was Sustainability in Pharmacy, and it was a fantastic event with an impressive programme of speakers, with lots of engagement and discussion amongst the delegates. These events are so powerful, as they not only provide a platform to share good practice, but also the opportunity to network and collaborate with like minded individuals. Minna, did an incredible job co-organising this event with her pharmacy colleagues and the AHSN. They are a great team and are really pushing the agenda for sustainable pharmacy in the North East and beyond. WELL DONE!

Barely a month goes by without the FoSH being celebrated at some conference or another. In June, Sustainability Matter’s editor Alan Hilley was invited to the British Orthopaedic Trainee Association’s inaugural Sustainability Conference to celebrate the great work that our Faculty has done over the past year, and to share our plans that will help to define the future of Sustainable Healthcare within our region.

It’s always amazing to witness, at events like this, the passion and enthusiasm that trainees (even orthopods) have to make a difference, and to be part of the solution. The presentation sparked fantastic discussion, and hopefully our region’s great work will inspire other regions to follow suit.