Care Without Carbon, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

NHS Sussex with Care Without Carbon’s project sees the development of a virtual neurorehabilitation care model that addresses carbon hotspots and aims to realise the full breadth of sustainability benefits: including air pollution, climate adaptation and health equity.

The project includes a six-month pilot of the use of video appointments in neurorehabilitation services. As well as training clinicians in digital communication skills, it will measure and evaluate the wider environmental benefits of this care pathway and seek to identify further opportunities to reduce its carbon footprint. Findings will inform guidance for other clinical services to support wider adoption of this model of care.

Care Without Carbon with NHS Sussex has created a green impact assessment tool empowering healthcare staff to make sustainable decisions; it highlights opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of a project, policy or service with a simple digital tool.

The tool, which includes a reporting dashboard, will enable those using it to understand, and therefore minimise, a range of environmental impacts. This will help to embed sustainable healthcare principles in project work and service innovations and broaden understanding of sustainable healthcare. It will also provide identifiable links to everyday work and facilitates a common language around sustainability and net zero transformation.