RUH Bath shortlisted for four national sustainability awards

Projects that save energy, improve food quality and reduce air pollution at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH) have been shortlisted for four NHS Sustainability Awards.

The national awards showcase action and innovation on creating a more sustainable NHS. The RUH was shortlisted in the procurement, infrastructure, staff engagement and public engagement categories.

RUH Director of Estates and Facilities Brian Johnson, said: "This is a huge achievement for our Sustainability team who are tasked with improving the environmental, social and financial impact of the Trust. Their hard work and determination is paying off with tangible results to show for it."

RUH Head of Sustainability Hayley Williams said: "I am delighted we have been shortlisted. It's important for us, not only to showcase and celebrate the work we do but to challenge the typical idea of what improving sustainability in a hospital involves and why it's so important.

"We do much more than providing recycling bins and cycle to work schemes – we are committed to generating and embracing innovative ideas that help us become more sustainable.

"These nominations are a perfect example of how wide-ranging our work can be. The procurement nomination for example is for our project to improve the Trusts food offering by becoming a 'fresh cook' hospital – selecting local producers, providing a wider range of healthy food options and reducing food miles by having larger and therefore less frequent deliveries."

Other nominated projects include employee plant room tours for the staff engagement category, an air pollution campaign for the public engagement campaign which included social media messages asking staff, patients and visitors to 'Switch Off When You Drop Off' and the relocation of the Spiritual Care Centre which was nominated for the infrastructure award for its innovative design and build.

The NHS Sustainability awards take place in Leeds on 16 May 2019.

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Some interesting facts about how we support sustainability at the RUH:

The Sustainability team have saved the equivalent of 18 Olympic sized swimming pools of water since 2015.

The RUH Catering team use, on average, 1040 loaves of bread, 1875 eggs and 229 cucumbers a week, all locally sourced to reduce food miles and support local producers.

In times of high demand, such as during cold weather, RUH generators are used to back up the National Grid. This generates around £140,000 for the Trust per year.

The RUH Atrium Coffee Bar and Lansdown Restaurant both offer discounts if you provide your own reusable hot drink or food containers.

• The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust provides acute treatment and care for a catchment population of around 500,000 people in Bath, and the surrounding towns and villages in North East Somerset and Western Wiltshire. The hospital provides healthcare to the population served by four Clinical Commissioning Groups: Bath & North East Somerset CCG, Wiltshire CCG, Somerset CCG and South Gloucestershire CCG.
• The Trust has 759 beds and a comprehensive range of acute services including medicine and surgery, services for women and children, accident and emergency services, and diagnostic and clinical support services.
• In 2015 The Royal United Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust acquired the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) NHS Foundation Trust. The RNHRD treats patients from across the country offering services in rheumatology, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, cancer related fatigue and fatigue linked to other long term conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
• The RUH is changing - we have an exciting programme of redevelopment underway transforming our site and further improving the services we provide. The Trust is building a purpose built RNHRD and Therapies Centre and is now working towards a new Dyson Cancer Centre. For more details visit: www.ruh.nhs.uk/fit4future

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