April is Healthy Sustainability Month at Elysium. Colleen Fahy is one of our first cohorts undertaking the LDN Sustainable Healthcare Academy and the Level 4 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Practitioner apprenticeship. We asked her some questions.
Why did you want to take part in this apprenticeship?
I want to make sure we’re working effectively in terms of sustainability as well as cost effectively. Also, I’ve been nursing for 27 years. With a nursing background, I’ve done lots of training for my job, but this is something completely different!
How has it impacted your work?
Well, sustainability has just become part of pretty much every conversation I have now, asking people things like ‘what are you putting in that bin?’ To be serious, I’ve always been aware of waste reduction and the need to reduce waste. But this is a great chance to learn a lot more both for work, and for applying in my personal life.
I’ve undertaken four projects as part of the Sustainability Practitioner Apprenticeship so far.
Tell us more about those!
The first is about travelling; we have services in different areas. In my region, I’ve been looking at travel, distance from home to services, and how we can make that more efficient in terms of time, cost and C02 emissions.
I’m also working on an awards ceremony for co-production and that is going to be a sustainable event in every way possible! I am compiling a sustainability check list to see how we can run it in the most sustainable way. All of the decorations, for example, will up upcycled, reused or repurposed, and people attending will create their own centrepieces using ‘pre-loved’ materials.
I also create a quarterly newsletter. It includes lots of important information and facts. For example, did you know that every email you send causes a C02 emission? I’m trying to encourage people to use more Teams, rather than email.
You sound very busy…
There are so many interesting angles to approach this from. Another project I am working on is reducing medication waste. We’re looking at how many times medication is delivered, what quantities are being ordered, how much is being disposed out of, and why. Could we be more effective in our stock management? I’m working across my region to drill down more into that.
It’s great to see concept of sustainability can be applied to so many different areas of our organisation and how we work!