The UK National Health Service (NHS) has the third largest clinical workforce in the NHS. Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) play an important role in Delivering a Net Zero NHS, which is the overarching framework.
The “Greener Allied Health Professional (AHP) Hub” aims to provide:
- Information on the importance of environmental sustainability for both population health and the health of the environment to provide clear actionable steps which AHPs can take to improve their own environmental sustainability.
- Examples of the ways in which AHPs are already doing things which improve environmental sustainability to include ‘what good looks like’ for individual AHPs and their teams as well as wider examples demonstrating how AHPs can lead this work in their organisations.
- Suggestions of how AHPs can contribute in relation to environmentally sustainable practice, digital, food and diet, use of equipment and public health and prevention.
Food & Nutrition is one of the focus areas for the Greener AHP Hub. As a food and nutrition professional, this NHS resource outlines key areas where you can make a difference in reducing the carbon footprint of healthcare food systems. It highlights your role in reducing food waste through optimizing mealtime support, promoting best practices, and utilizing technology for ordering and monitoring.
By advocating for healthy, low-carbon diets and minimizing packaging waste, you can address the broader impacts of food systems. This resource will help you implement strategies such as conducting waste audits, supporting patients in adopting better eating habits, and promoting the importance of nutrition and hydration among food service staff. Ultimately, this page equips you to link food, health, and climate change initiatives within the NHS, driving sustainable practices and better patient outcomes.
An example is the “Sustainability in Healthcare: Mildmay’s Low-Carbon Menu Transforms Patient Care“. Mildmay Hospital’s dietetics and catering teams, in collaboration with the NHS and dietetics students, developed a low-carbon menu tailored to vulnerable patients using recipes from the NHS England recipe bank. After iterative development and feedback, the winter menu achieved an 18% carbon footprint reduction and minimized food waste to 10% of portions served, while patient input led to further improvements like diverse recipes and a weekly cooked breakfast option for summer.
Transparency | Diversity | Dynamism | Evidence-based |