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<p>The Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) in Public Health England and NHS England,
working with NHS Improvement, issued guidance in June to National Health Service providers
to support improvements in environmental best practice. This can be found at:</p><p>
</p><p><a href="https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/default.aspx" target="_blank">https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/default.aspx</a></p><p>
</p><p>In November 2017 the SDU also published the Sustainable Development Assessment
Tool that helps organisations build and monitor progress against robust and comprehensive
Sustainable Development Management Plans (SDMPs). The tool is aligned to the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals, United Kingdom Government and NHS policy and
strategy. It can be found at the following link:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/sdat/"
target="_blank">https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/sdat/</a></p><p> </p><p>In early 2018
the SDU also updated the criteria/scope on sustainability reporting, for NHS organisations
in line with Treasury best practice. This can be found at the following link:</p><p>
</p><p><a href="https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/default.aspx" target="_blank">https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/default.aspx</a></p><p>
</p><p>I have also held meetings with both NHS England and NHS Improvement to discuss
how best to reduce the use of plastics across the NHS.</p><p> </p><p>Both the SDU
and NHS Improvement hold a repository of best practice case studies across areas including
energy and carbon, travel, waste and behaviour change. New case studies are published
regularly and promoted to NHS organisations through monthly ebulletins and social
media, which can be found at the following link:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/case-studies.aspx"
target="_blank">https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/resources/case-studies.aspx</a></p><p>
</p><p>All NHS providers that are party to the Long Form NHS Standard Contract are
required to have in place and report annually on a SDMP. SDMPs are board adopted plans
that set out how NHS organisations will minimise negative impacts and maximise positive
impacts on the environment, society and economy.</p><p> </p><p>Information about individual
trust board appointments is not held centrally. Annual sustainability reports are
now also required from all trusts and must be signed off by boards as part of the
Annual Reporting process. Environmental data submitted through trusts Estates Record
Information Collection (ERIC) must also be signed off by a board level representative.
Information about individual trusts’ SDMPs, approved by the trust board, and about
Sustainability Reports and environmental data from ERIC, at a trust level, can be
found at the following link:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/policy-strategy/reporting/organisational-summaries.aspx"
target="_blank">https://www.sduhealth.org.uk/policy-strategy/reporting/organisational-summaries.aspx</a></p><p>
</p><p>Ministers have had no recent meetings with the medical Royal Colleges or medical
equipment suppliers about reducing the use of plastic in the NHS. The NHS, in common
with all other healthcare systems, has to use some single-use plastic devices and
other plastic items to deliver effective care to patients. NHS trusts do, however,
minimise the impact of healthcare on the environment.</p><p> </p><p>Information on
those NHS trusts that produce their own energy is collected annually through ERIC.
Overall, 36% of the energy consumed by those sites is produced by them. Details are
shown in the attached table.</p><p> </p><p>All ERIC data is published at the following
link:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection"
target="_blank">https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection</a></p>
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