The 6th Edition of the ISQua EEA Guidelines and Principles for the Development of Health and Social Care Standards (the Principles) recognise the importance of sustainability in healthcare. The new Principle dedicated to Sustainable Care, acknowledges the critical role in improving patient safety, enhancing quality of care, and ensuring the long-term viability of healthcare systems.
The Sustainable Care criteria within the 6th Edition of the Principles focus on:
· Strategic Environmental Review: requiring healthcare and social care organisations to undertake strategic level reviews of the impact of environmental issues and the sustainability of service provision to identify how negative environmental impacts could be mitigated.
· Transparency and Engagement: requiring organisations to inform their staff and patients/service users about the organisation’s strategic approach to environmentally sustainable care and the organisation’s goals in this area.
· Energy Management and Resource Stewardship: requiring organisations to monitor their energy usage, to transition to renewable energy sources where possible, reduce waste, promote recycling and prioritise environmentally friendly procurement.
· Accountable Progress and Resilience: requiring organisations to define their goals for delivering environmentally sustainable care, and to monitor and report their progress against these goals to the governing body. It also requires organisations to review their resilience to major environmental, climate and health emergencies and to plan for a range of actions in response.
Sustainable care is not merely an environmental concern; it is a critical component of high-quality and safe healthcare delivery. Incorporating these new requirements into sets of health and social care standards will promote environmentally responsible health and social care, leading to reduced environmental impact, greater resource efficiency, and enhanced resilience. This ultimately benefits both current and future generations by ensuring the provision of sustainable and high-quality care.
You can learn more about what’s included in this new principle here.
