Latest news

Posted on 24 May 2017

Nottinghamshire Healthcare has been Highly Commended in three categories at The NHS Sustainability Awards 2017. The Awards celebrate healthcare efficiency and sustainable development across the Health and Care sector.

The Trust was highly commended in the Innovation Award and Finance Award categories for our Adiabatic cooling system at Rampton Hospital.

The Adiabatic cooling system is used to regulate the temperature within our new data centre at Rampton Hospital, which houses some of the Trusts computer servers used for storage, processing and distribution of large amounts of data. The system uses ‘free cooling’ rather than refrigerant gases, which is more sustainable from an environmental, as well as financial point of view.

There are several advantages to this type of system including:

• It utilises outdoor air with low temperatures, as a free cooling source, to assist in chilling water;
• Minimal maintenance; and
• Reduced operating costs.

When compared to ‘business as usual’ i.e. a traditional cooling system, the adiabatic cooling solution is expected to deliver an annual energy cost saving of over £30,000.

We were also highly commended in the Procurement Award category for our Sustainable Food Project.

The Sustainable Food Project involved working in partnership with a local supplier to develop a range of low cost menu options produced from what was technically ‘food waste’. These ‘food waste’ items comprised off cuts of vegetables, which would otherwise have been destined for landfill.  We held a food taster event with some of our patients and created such culinary delights as butternut squash dahl, carrot and sweet potato fritters, cheese and potato pie and the most delicious carrot cake ever!

The project has the capacity to deliver significant savings. For example, in the Broccoli and Stilton soup that was made, broccoli stalks were used instead of the florets and in doing so, there was an 85% cost saving. The patient feedback confirmed that there was no comprise on taste or quality despite the cost being significantly reduced.

Lynn Richards, Energy and Environmental Manager said:

“The Environmental Team was absolutely delighted to be Highly Commended in three categories at these Awards. We are continually looking at ways in which we can make the Trust more sustainable, and both of these projects have been very successful in doing this, at the same time as reducing the environmental impact of the service we provide”.

The Awards were held on 17 May and are part of the NHS Sustainability Day Campaign and national day of action held each year. Further details can be found at www.nhssustainabilityday.co.uk