As part of its commitment to being as sustainable as possible, NHS Grampian is today publishing the results of the 2021/22 National Sustainability Assessment Tool (NSAT). Every health board is required to complete this data set annually. It asks a series of questions on everything from capital projects to greenspace and transport. 

Dr Debjani Sarkar, Sustainability Support Officer for NHS Grampian, said: “Publishing the NSAT gives people in the north-east the opportunity to see our current performance; where we are doing well and where we need to improve. Our responses are used to create a spider graph, which gives a visual representation of our performance. The most recent spider graph highlights a good recovery from some poor performances the previous year, but also shows there is much work still to do.” 

Dr Robert Hobkirk is Head of Sustainability Compliance & Risk for NHS Grampian. He said: “The scale of the climate emergency is clear. As a large public sector organisation, we have a duty to play our part and be as sustainable as possible. Our role as responsible individuals within the organisation touches on everything we do: the power we use, how we order the goods we need, the vehicles in our fleet, and the buildings we develop.  

“NHS Grampian has a significant number of building projects underway, including The Baird and ANCHOR project and it is vital these buildings are built in an efficient and sustainable way, for both now and the future. They also need to operate efficiently and sustainably. The Baird Family Hospital will not have piped Nitrous Oxide (N2O), moving to in situ use of the gas where appropriate. This will significantly reduce the loss of the gas to the atmosphere. Nitrous Oxide is an ozone depleting substance which persists in the environment for 131 years and has a 100-year global warming potential (GWP100) of 298. This is just one step we are taking to ensure our daily business is of reduced environmental impact and more sustainable for future populations.” 

Debjani added: “In one sense, this is a journey with no final destination, as there will always be more we can do. That’s going to require all of us – staff and patients alike – to think and do things differently.” 

Being a leader in sustainability and reducing its impact on the environment is a key part of the NHS Grampian Plan for the Future. More information on that is available at: Environment (nhsgrampian.org)

The 2021/22 NSAT results are available to download (xlsx).