Sustainable healthcare/hospitals (panel and report release)

https://youtu.be/g_pQNvVjzMQ

Julia Drzymala

Moderator

June 28, 2022 | 12:30 - 14:00

Multifunction Hall Room 8

UN Global Compact with Philips

Poland

https://zieloneszpitalekuzielonejtransormacji.splashthat.com/

Polish with English translation

Greener Urban Futures

WUF11

Networking Events

Summary

Healthcare systems account for 4.4% of global CO2 emissions. It is estimated that a hospital bed generates about 13 kg of waste per day. The idea of low-carbon hospitals not only has a positive impact on the environment but also saves a lot of money. To implement this idea, emphasis should be placed on: Closed Circuit Economy, energy efficiency of buildings, modern solutions and digitalization. The topic of health care and its functioning has become particularly important due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we decided to focus on this topic at a time when there is a lively discussion about it and the necessary changes resulting from our experience in recent years. We would like to discuss these issues and their solutions during the premiere of our report at WUF11. Nowadays, it is of the utmost importance to find an alignment between all possible sectors and the EU goals to become carbon neutral by 2050. Therefore, the idea of Green Hospital brings up the environmental trends within the healthcare sector; Green Hospital being a broad term, may be tackled on multiple levels, starting from the infrastructure of the building through its use phase. Moreover, it finds connectivity between environmental and public health. The networking event is planned to be conducted in a panel form, featuring a release of a report. The scope of the report focuses on Green Hospitals on multiple grounds, presenting the current trends of the healthcare sector as well as showcasing recommendations from industries' professionals. The panel will open a discussion where key stakeholders and key opinion leaders dwell on the environmental trends within the healthcare sector. Where current figures are going to be presented aligning with goals towards carbon neutrality. The main idea of the event is to gather the interested parties together and discuss the issues the healthcare sector is facing nowadays, giving a set of possible solutions from our point of expertise. But also looking for other areas which may help to make hospitals more environmentally and patient-friendly.

Objectives

The key objectives of the event are to comprehensively address a topic that, despite its relevance, is not yet adequately discussed and addressed. With the Report, we want to attract a wider audience from around the world to this quite specific, but incredibly interesting and important topic - the green functioning of hospitals. We want to present our experiences, the problems we see and the proposed comprehensive solutions. In this way, we hope to deepen the common understanding of this issue and to begin an action for the transformation of hospitals. The networking event will be an encouragement for other parties to gain interest in the healthcare sectors’ need for change and raise awareness on the topic. There are different ways of engagement, depending on the audience: 1. The governmental representatives have legislative power and the ability to take a top-down approach. Such as the introduction of regulations accelerating the change towards more sustainable practices among healthcare institutions. 2. Business abilities to contribute with their expertise. As many components are defining a green hospital, starting from building infrastructure through medical devices 3. Healthcare professionals’ willingness to act and cooperate on given challenges.