Integrating Innovation: The Art of the Possible

At the “Integrating Innovation: The Art of the Possible” conference on 9 March 2023, Paul Chivers, Head of PPE Innovation and Sustainability took part in the panel discussion “Delivering a Net Zero NHS” at 1:55pm.

4.4% of global emissions are from healthcare. If the healthcare industry was a country, it would be the fifth largest in the world in terms of emissions. The NHS is responsible for 25 million tonnes of CO₂ each year, and the NHS has become the world’s first national health system to commit to becoming net zero. Sustainability is the next frontier in innovation. The opportunities are truly endless.

Central to the work of the AHSN is supporting our health and care community to meet local needs and priorities. Chaired by Pete Waddingham, NetZero Lead for the AHSN Network, this panel session explored delivering #NetZeroNHS from the perspectives of innovators, researchers, and NHS partners.

The panel discussion was followed by a Q&A session where questions about how we can address environmental sustainability in healthcare innovation were asked.

The session aimed to;

• Explore different perspectives relating to NetZero and how the wider ecosystem of health and care innovators can support this.
• Showcase the collaborative nature of the work in the AHSN, bringing together academia, industry, and the NHS.
• Make useful connections with others working in the same space and facing the same challenges to support potential future collaborations and continued learning and sharing. 

The conference was being organised by the West of England AHSN, the local health innovation network, in partnership with the three Integrated Care Boards for Gloucestershire; Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire; and Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.