The NHS is the largest single organisation in the UK. Its potential impact on the environment, the health of the public and the fabric of their lives is huge, whether as employer, purchaser of goods and services, cause of travel, producer of waste, consumer of energy or commissioner of building works. This book shows how the NHS can put this corporate muscle and spending power to work for health improvement and sustainable development, and in doing so ensure its own long term viability. It goes beyond short term discussions on crisis management in health care to open up a major debate on how the NHS can use its resources more wisely to sustain health in the long term. It argues that the NHS can, and must, make better use of its resources to reduce inequalities, build stronger local economies and safeguard the environment for the benefit of whole communities. To do this, it will need to tackle the challenge of raising service standards, and changing attitudes and patterns of behaviour in all of its corporate activities. The book evaluates eight key areas where the NHS has significant environmental, social and economic impacts: employment, purchasing policy, child care, food, waste, travel, energy and building. It assesses current policy and practice under each heading, and identifies barriers to change and how these might be overcome.
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Pagination: x, 135p.; Anna Coote is the Director of the Public Health Programme at the King's Fund and Karen Jochelson is a Research Officer in Public Health; Teresa Edmans is Programme Manager, Health and Regeneration and Ailish Byrne is Research & Development Officer, Health and Regeneration at the King's Fund.; Contents: Introduction [by] Anna Coote.- 1: Employment [by] Teresa Edmans, Marsaili Cameron and Helen Bishop.- 2: Purchasing policy [by] Teresa Edmans, Karen Jochelson and Kamila Zahno.- 3: Buying childcare [by] Ailish Byrne and Teresa Edmans.- 5: Waste [by] Karen Jochelson.- 6: Travel [by] Karen Jochelson.- 7: Energy [by] Karen Jochelson.- 8: Building [by] Karen Jochelson and David Fell.