Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Sustainability
• Workforce
• Health Inequalities

Environmental Achievements

• Decommissioning Desflurane, reducing harmful emissions by around 40 kilotons of carbon per year

Social Achievements

• Delivered and exceeded targets for patients receiving personalised care interventions, with almost 6 million recorded interventions
• Achieved NHS Long Term Plan commitment of 1,000 children treated each year for severe complications related to their obesity
• Increased the number of 999 call handlers by 15% compared to September 2021
• Increased the number of NHS 111 call handlers by 12.4% by March 2023, compared to September 2021
• Published the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to plug staffing gaps

Governance Achievements

• Completed its first annual assessments for 2022/23 of Integrated Care Boards
• Published an updated code of governance for NHS trusts and foundation trusts

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Continued challenge of recovery from the first waves of Covid-19 and ongoing global economic volatility
• Unprecedented operational and financial impact from industrial action
• NHS remains at its heart focused primarily on the patient, whilst demand is rising in some areas very significantly
• NHS has around 133,000 staff vacancies
• Huge growth in the numbers of people presenting with mental health conditions
• Waiting lists remain a huge challenge
• High bed occupancy averaging at 93.6% across the year

Mitigation Strategies

• Increased bed capacity by the equivalent of more than 7,000 additional general and acute beds
• Expansion of same day emergency care and urgent treatment centres
• System control centres set up across all 42 ICSs operating 24/7
• Published ‘Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care’
• Published 3-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services
• Published ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’
• Additional staff were recruited into the substantive and contingent workforce with a focus on shortage areas
• Existing national retention programme extended to other staff groups
• Developing an equality, diversity and inclusion plan to improve equality in the NHS

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Climate Change
• Environmental Sustainability
• Social Sustainability
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Achieved a circa 26% improvement in energy efficiency between 2009 and 2019.
• Reduced emissions by 13.5% by the end of 2020 (against a 2016-2018 average baseline).
• Implemented a shallow energy retrofit engineering works programme, resulting in 27,106 MWh and 7,012 tonnes of CO2e reductions between 2019 and 2021.

Social Achievements

• Cork University Hospital reawarded a Green Flag for developing wildflower zones and promoting wellbeing.
• Clarke’s Place Community Group Home won an award for gardening initiatives.
• Initiatives at University of Limerick and Royal College of Surgeons Ireland promoting active travel and green spaces.

Governance Achievements

• Established the Estates Climate Action and Sustainability Office in 2021.
• Developed and implemented an Energy Efficient Design (EED) process.
• Amended HSE Design Team Technical Requirements to demonstrate ‘Route to Carbon Zero’ in building designs.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Significant energy-related emissions from the HSE estate (approximately 19% of public sector energy use in 2019).
• Lack of a database on open green sites across the HSE.
• Challenges associated with operationalisation of the introduction of clean vehicles/EVs.
• HSE does not actively integrate environmental considerations into contract and procurement decisions.
• High consumption of single-use plastics during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Slow progress in implementing the Department of Health’s Health Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan (2019-2024) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mitigation Strategies

• Implementation of HSE Decarbonisation Roadmap to reduce energy-related GHG emissions by 51% by 2030 and achieve net-zero by 2050.
• Development of a HSE green space framework to optimise the use of green space.
• Development of a HSE Transport framework and implementation plan for moving to low and zero-emission vehicles.
• Integration of environmental and sustainability criteria into all purchases and procurement decision-making.
• Measures underway to reduce single-use plastics.
• Ongoing implementation of the Department of Health’s Health Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan (2019-2024).

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Integration of sustainability criteria into all tender procurement processes.

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Extreme weather events
• Air pollution
• UV radiation

Transition Risks

• Regulatory changes
• Market shifts

Opportunities

• Development of energy-efficient products and services
• Transition to a circular economy

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: UN Sustainable Development Goals

Certifications: ISO 50001 (target)

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not disclosed

The Strategy has linked the Strategic Objectives to the relevant SDGs where applicable.

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Not disclosed

Awards & Recognition

• Green Flag Award (Cork University Hospital)