Sustainability

NHS Supply Chain recognises the importance of sustainable development in creating a better quality of life now and for future generations. We are committed to sustainability, and strive to ensure that activity within NHS Supply Chain takes full consideration of the environmental, social and economic impacts of our business.

By working closely with our customers and suppliers we can ensure opportunities for improvement both up and down the supply chain are realised to their full potential. We aim to maximise sustainable value to the NHS, reduce our impact on the environment and society, and improve local communities and the lives of our employees.

Sustainable strategies and practices are integral to our procurement and operations. We have strict policies, guidelines, and targets to drive sustainable improvement.

Our Sustainability Strategy is split across these three areas:

1. Sustainable Procurement
2. Sustainable Operations
3. Social and Community Activities 

1. Sustainable Procurement - an overview

Our aim is to reduce the social and environmental impacts that occur from the purchase, use, and disposal of the products we procure. We seek to promote and maintain high standards of social, ethical and environmental conduct across our procurement activities and work with our suppliers to make sure they too adopt this approach.

• we aspire to manage markets sustainably, supported by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sustainable development with our managing agent, The NHS Business Services Authority
• the Global Compact forms the basis of our NHS Supply Chain Supplier Code of Conduct.  We expect all our suppliers to adhere to the same set of ethical principles
• all contracts are evaluated by the Sustainable Procurement Risk and Opportunity User Tool (SPROUT) and all food tenders include the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) base code of conduct
• We are members of the Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group and the Procuring 4 Carbon Reduction (P4CR) steering group, this group have produced the P4CR Guidelines.

2. Sustainable Operations - an overview

At NHS Supply Chain, we are committed to putting the principles of sustainability into practice across our operations and place a strong emphasis on reducing our impact on the environment.

We recognise our responsibility for preserving and protecting the environment, and work closely with customers, suppliers and employees to develop environmental best practice, and improve the supply chain across the NHS.

Our objectives

• improving energy, fuel, and water efficiency
• reducing emissions, waste, and pollution from our distribution centres and vehicles
• increase recycling
• reduce unnecessary packaging 

Some of our achievements

• 14% reduction in tonnes of carbon emissions per £million revenue since 2008
• ISO 14001 (2004) certification across all seven of our distribution centres
• reduced our transport fleet carbon emissions by 324 tonnes of CO2e in one year (2010)
• recycle 73% of the waste from our distribution centres

3. Social and Community

Working with our local communities is a key element of our sustainability agenda, demonstrated through our commitment to a number of charitable and community-focussed programmes and initiatives.

"Our social and community programme enables all our people to get involved with local initiatives; helping to instil a sense of pride across our business."

Key initiatives:

• in 2009/10 NHS Supply Chain employees raised £132,000 for our charity of choice, Cancer Research UK
• we work with the Princes Trust to help young people develop skills in a working environment
• we are part of the Halfords Cycle2Work scheme
• our staff support local schools through educating on road safety through the Trucks and Child Safety (TACS) scheme
   

Contact us:  We are always looking for ways to improve the level of sustainable value we offer to the NHS. So whether you are a supplier, customer, or a stakeholder please contact us using the email address below. We value your feedback:

sustainability@supplychain.nhs.uk

View all