Our Improvement and Innovation Showcase brings together teams from across the health system to connect, share and explore their experiences of working towards better healthcare for all South Australians.
As per the Strategic Direction (2024-2027), we recognised that reducing the health system’s impact on climate change and identifying opportunities to adapt to its impact is critical to a sustainable health system. The Showcase’s 13th Series aimed to support this and was themed as ‘Environmental Sustainability in Healthcare’. We were excited to collaborate with the SA Health Climate Change Executive Governance Group to deliver this series in anticipation of the launch of the SA Health Climate Change Framework!
Improvement and Innovation Showcase 39: It’s Everyone’s Problem! The Impact of Climate Change in Healthcare
Dr Kimberly Humphrey (Public Health Medical Consultant and Climate Change Lead, SA Department of Health and Wellbeing)
The changing climate is an existential threat and described by the UN Secretary General as a ‘code red for humanity’. Australia is one of the countries on the frontlines of climate-health impacts, including increasing in extreme weather events, changes in infectious diseases patterns, and food and water security. These impacts will place unprecedented pressure on our health system and are exacerbating existing health inequities, with vulnerable groups and rural communities most affected. The healthcare sector alone is responsible for almost 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions and if it were a country, it would be the fifth largest polluter on Earth. Under a ‘business as usual’ scenario, emissions from healthcare could triple between now and 2050.
Join Kimberly to hear why the responsibility to address the impact of climate change in healthcare rests not with just a few but everyone who works in it!
Improvement and Innovation Showcase 40: High Value Healthcare is Low Carbon Healthcare
Dr Kate Charlesworth (Medical Director, Climate Risk & Net Zero Unit, NSW Health) (MBBS(Hons), MPH, FAFPHM, PhD)
As we face the unprecedented challenge of climate change, it is widely acknowledged that a substantial proportion of health care is wasteful and low value. Low value care remains stubbornly common and may be increasing, including in low- and middle-income countries. Recent estimates show that about 30% of health care is wasteful or low value, and a further 10% is harmful. How does low value care intersect with climate risk in relation to its carbon footprint?
Join Kate to hear how we all have a role to play in leading sustainable models of clinical care and explore why better value, low carbon emissions models of clinical care are urgently needed.
Improvement and Innovation Showcase 41: Waste Reduction in Healthcare
Sarah Ripley (Sustainable Healthcare Manager Climate and Health Alliance)
Chris Barber (Manager, Corporate Operations, Women’s and Children’s Hospital)
Kirstine Warneford (Equipment Advanced Nurse Manager, Women’s and Children’s Hospital)
Decarbonising the Australian health system healthcare sector is a collective effort and encompasses a range of areas. The health system generates multiple waste streams. The emissions footprint of this waste depends on the type of waste and the method of disposal, which can include recycling, compost, landfill and incineration.
Join Sarah from the Climate and Health Alliance alongside Chris and Kirstine from the Women’s and Children’s Health Network (WCHN) to hear about the environmental impacts of hospital waste and examples of local decarbonisation initiatives in our hospitals.
Improvement and Innovation Showcase 42: Sustainable Design in Healthcare
Jack Noonan (Portfolio Manager, New Women’s and Children’s Hospital Project)
The built environment consists of all the human-made aspects of people’s surroundings, including hospitals, facilities, roads and other connecting transit systems. Buildings contribute to climate change through their construction, maintenance and daily operation. This includes the materials they use; their location; and electricity, gas and water usage. It is estimated that capital expenditure for health care buildings alone, including expenditure on the building of new hospitals and retrofitting or upgrading of established hospitals, represents 8% of total Australia health care emissions. However, this figure only considers emissions from physical construction and upgrades and not building energy use.
Join Jack to learn about health facility lifecycle emissions and environmentally sustainable design principles from both a new build (i.e. SA’s new Women’s & Children’s Hospital) and existing facility perspective.