King's College London

Colleagues from the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care have been shortlisted in the London Higher Awards 2024 in the category of Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability Leadership in London (initiative or partnership).

The health sector is one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide equivalents to the atmosphere resulting from the use of anaesthetic gases, medications, clinical waste and personal protective equipment (PPE). It's therefore vital to educate healthcare professionals to lead with a focus on sustainability in order to achieve the NHS England target of a NetZero health service by 2040.

At NMPC, an initiative was led by Dr Jocelyn Cornish and Melanie Maddison to embed theoretical principles of sustainability into nine programmes; this will increase to 15 by 2024. The Faculty team helping to implement this includes Sara Stevenson-Baker, Emma Jefferson, Lynne Wainwright, Julie Bliss, Louise Barriball, Georgina Assadi, Jenny Wylam, Will Gage, Luis Teixeira, Shelley Peacock, Carolyne Stewart, Victoria Edleston, Akira Madams, Marie Parsons, Rahina Inayat, Numair Shahpur, Vanessa Coelho and Nicola Horgan.

The work began as a pilot collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) in 2021. Nine members of staff received training in teaching sustainable quality improvement (SusQI) and then delivered sustainability principles in education modules relating to quality improvement, leadership and public health nursing, mental health and global health. There are plans to extend this focus to intensive care and prescribing modules, and to international programmes.

Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Beacon status was awarded to the Faculty in January 2023.

MSc students in Advanced Clinical Practice use a sustainability focus in their quality improvement dissertation. Evaluation of completed projects reveals a direct impact on patient care, for example, through adopting processes to reduce care delays or missed appointments or increase screening uptake. Another project is underway to reduce, reuse and recycle clinical resources from clinical simulation education, which is a core element of nursing and midwifery programmes. This project is underpinned by collaboration between universities, student partners, skills laboratory technicians, clinical teachers and waste management services.

Read more about the other shortlists for the London Higher Awards 2024.