Dudley College is a trusted partner of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust. They collaborate on a number of initiatives that support the growth and management of talent for the Trust for both clinical and non-clinical roles. The Trust is on a pathway to reduce carbon and become more sustainable in all areas of its operation. Their Green Plan to 2025, which follows an assessment using the NHS’s Sustainable Development Assessment Tool (SDAT), outlines this commitment and what it means for different aspects of the Trust.
Dudley College was approached by the Trust to provide a training solution that would support NHS colleagues to adopt sustainable practices across the trust in line with their Green Plan. A key lead for sustainability at Dudley College consulted with them on specific needs and designed a bespoke programme to be delivered to a diverse group of NHS staff over four weeks. The objective was for each participant to progress from a starting point of having patchy knowledge to a stage where they were already ‘making the change’ in their specific area of work.
Participants included a nurse from operating theatre, consultants, a ward charge nurse, lead physiotherapists, the lead dietician manager, the waste manager, marketing colleagues and a person responsible for sustainability.
The first two days were tutor-led and started with raising awareness of the basic principles of sustainability, including frameworks such as the UN’s SDF goals. Learners discussed carbon reduction, waste management and the circular economy and were encouraged to apply these principles to their own personal habits and personal choices. They looked at ways to assess and report on sustainability measures and how to understand national targets and benchmarks which were then applied to their own Trust. This introduction was followed up by more in-depth coverage of green assessments, green procurement, types of waste management, the impact of transport and travel and how to decarbonise the estate through cleaner energy sources, insulation and ventilation improvement.
Then the participants worked in groups to address the challenge – What can I do in my work that will make an impact? Projects were designed, developed and pitched before being worked on in the workplace and presented back to the group on the final day of the programme. All projects involved applying learning from the programme to a practical opportunity they could address. Projects included a clinical waste project run by a theatre sister, a project on developing community links run by a marketing colleague and initiatives around more sustainable food run by the dietitian. Across all projects the approach was to learn from other members of the group to put sustainable changes in place. Following this successful delivery, Dudley College has gone on to deliver a similar package in their own college.
