Making health and social care greener: our winners
The winners of the Year of Green Action award in the 2020 Advancing Healthcare awards programme have been announced to coincide with the publication of Making Health and Social Care Greener.
Go to the Advancing Healthcare Awards website to view the compilation of ideas and suggestions from allied health professionals and healthcare scientists about the ways their innovations are helping to create a greener NHS.
The winner is Aneurin Bevan University Health Board's Sioned Quirke from for her work to encourage young people to eat healthily. As the manager of Wales first weight management service for children, she has encouraged the use of fresh local produce, less processed food and activity in green spaces, while offering virtual consultations to reduce travel and carbon emissions.
The four highly commended entries are Brendan Lloyd from Welsh Ambulance Services Trust where sustainability is embedded in the clinical team culture; Rachael Sharples, for her work in palliative rehabilitation at Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice in Keithley; Amanda Atkinson from Swansea Bay for her work in improving occupational therapy services for children; and Jack Stancel-Lewis, audiologist at Imperial College, for his work in using birdsong to identify hearing loss.
The winners will be celebrated along with the other category winners at a virtual ceremony on 16 October 2020.
We were delighted when the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs approached us to take part in their Year of Green Action, inviting AHPs and healthcare scientists to tell us how they are contributing to environmental sustainability. The publication contains a wealth of ideas and suggestions covering many aspects of the green agenda, ranging from the antimicrobial properties of snails to smoking cessation in prisons, from telephone assessment of people with back pain to music therapy to improve Walking Speed.
The 2020 awards programme was almost complete when the pandemic struck and as the post-COVID era unfolds, it is remarkable how many of these ideas have taken on a sharper focus and greater relevance. Health professionals have replaced face-to-face consultations with telephone sessions, training has gone virtual and many have appreciated the natural world to deal with fatigue, anxiety and stress.
Go to the Advancing Healthcare Awards website to view the publication. Follow us on Twitter for updates @AHAwards and for further information contact Alison Dunn on 020 8334 4500 ali@chamberdunn.co.uk or visit www.ahawards.co.uk