Hospital's environmentally friendly scheme is a success

More than 200 crutches, sticks and walking frames have been collected since the launch of a reuse and recycling scheme in February this year.

Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust introduced the scheme in a bid to prevent walking aids ending up in landfill.

People can return any unwanted walking aids, irrespective of when or where they got them from, to any of our three sites at the following locations:

• King’s Mill Hospital – outside Clinic 10 and next to reception in the main entrance
• Mansfield Community Hospital – Rehab Unit
• Newark Hospital – Byron House

Deborah Kerry, a Physiotherapist currently on secondment with the Improvement Faculty at Sherwood Forest Hospitals introduced the scheme and she said:

“I’m so pleased that the public have embraced this idea and am extremely grateful to everyone who has returned a walking aid so far. We were inundated in the first week of launching the scheme and I hope that people continue to return their unused and unwanted walking aids, which will be safety checked, repaired and reissued where appropriate.

The scheme will greatly reduce the number of walking aids being taken to landfill unnecessarily, which is great news for the environment.

The relaunch of this scheme is another step forwards in the Trust’s drive towards achieving the Net Zero target and I am excited to be project lead. I hope the public will embrace the scheme, which will have a positive environmental and financial impact”

Refurbishing walking aids will reduce the quantity of new walking aids being issued in the Trust, and in turn reduce the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing.

The Trust is committed to becoming sustainable and introduced a Climate Action Project Group in 2020 to reduce the impact of climate action on our community and work towards the NHS target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

The group is made up of colleagues dedicated to making sustainable changes to the Trust, and they continue to work towards the ambitions in our green plan, which can be found on our website here: www.sfh-tr.nhs.uk/climateaction.

In the past year, they have completed the following projects:

• Last spring,150 trees were planted at King’s Mill Hospital to support the NHS Forest (https://nhsforest.org/) and 5000m³ of grass was left to grow over the summer, with native wildflower seeds sown to increase biodiversity on the site.
• Around 50 species of flora and fauna were identified on the site, and rare Bee Orchid flowers were able to grow in the grass which was left unmown.
• Fitbits were donated to the physiotherapy team by representatives from Nottinghamshire County Council’s public rights of way team, which will help to promote exercise in recovering patients and allow those in the local community to take greater control of their own health and wellbeing.
• A comprehensive guide on sustainable ways to travel to work for colleagues has been created.
• 24 EV chargers have been installed in one of the staff car parks, allowing for more colleagues to make the switch to electric vehicles.
• 50 green champions have been recruited across the Trust which includes representatives from each ward, who will lead on improving recycling within their area.
• Changes have been made to how patients’ menus are presented to encourage uptake of greener, healthier meal choices.
• Work has been taking place with Ashfield School and West Notts College to raise awareness and educate about the link between health and sustainability.

Richard Mills, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Lead for Climate Change at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, said: “In 2021 we launched our Green Plan in a direct response to the climate crisis, as well as declaring a Climate Emergency. Since then, the Climate Action Team have gone above and beyond to make positive changes to how we do things at the Trust, bringing benefits to the health of both our planet and people living and working within our local area.

“The team continue to bring innovative new changes to how we do things, as we work towards our goal of ‘Net Zero’ by 2040.”