Sustainability at CWPT

At Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT), we are dedicated to delivering high-quality mental health and learning disability care to children and adults across our region. As a part of the NHS, we also recognise the pressing environmental challenges we face, and the crucial role we must play in overcoming them.

The NHS is responsible for around 5% of the UK's total carbon emissions, with secondary mental health services contributing approximately 6% of that figure. The more carbon emissions we release into the atmosphere, the more frequent and intense climate impacts become, which in turn impact the health of our patients. We can tackle this by taking a green approach to healthcare. As such, we are not only part of the problem, but also a vital part of the solution.

 

Our Commitments & Targets

Our vision is to become a net-zero Trust by 2040, in line with NHS England targets.

Our Green Plan 2025-28 sets our sustainability targets and objectives over the next three years, to support in achieving our net-zero goal. It builds on the work we have done so far and sets out clear objectives for reducing our carbon footprint.

At CWPT we are committed to preventing pollution and reduction the environmental impact of our activities. We recognise that the core services we provide have the potential to create adverse impacts for both the local and wider environment. It is essential we work to minimise these impacts by partaking in continuous monitoring, mediation and changing the culture surrounding sustainability within our organisation.

 

Key Achievements 

Our Trust has made several key achievements over the last 3 years:

• Improved hospital flow - reducing the reliance on patient transport and visitor miles.
• Trust-wide rollout of e-consultations through Attend Anywhere, Zoom and Microsoft Teams to enable the remote delivery of at least 25% of clinically necessary outpatient appointments.
•   Between September '24 and March '25, 96,667 meetings were conducted on Microsoft Teams - 90,182 of which were 1:1 calls.
• We have provided 3,626 laptops to colleagues and on average, 1,446 colleagues work from home each day.
• Decommissioned a physical data centre and co-locate with the Acute Trust, lowering the requirements for UPS and power backups.
• O ur salary sacrifice scheme provides colleagues with access to affordable electric cars and the option of home charging - currently 80% of these vehicles are electric or hybrid.
• Developed our onsite gardens which patients can access and gain the benefits of connecting with nature and the existing biodiversity.
• Medicine recycling scheme within the pharmacy technician team has been successful in saving the Trust £68,000 over the past 5 years.
• Segregate our food waste and monitor the quantity daily.
• We donate excess food stock to local charities when menus are refreshed.
• We have published our 'Climate Adaptation Plan' which establishes our strategy to enhance the resilience of the Trust and our services to climate change impacts.

 

Our Carbon Footprint

To enable us to monitor our progress against the net-zero target, we have developed a carbon baseline from which our annual emissions will be compared. The baseline was developed in line with the NHS Carbon Footprint.

 

In 2024-25, we produced 3,606 tonnes of CO2e (tCO2e).

Scope 1 emissions were the greatest contributor to this, making up 2,382 tCO2e and 66% of total emissions. We produced 654 tCO2e of Scope 2 emissions and 570 tCO2e of Scope 3 emissions.

Achieving net-zero by 2040 requires a sustained effort from all areas of our organisation over the next 15 years. Our carbon footprint trajectory shows the required reduction needed to meet our 2040 target and progress will be updated annually.

 

Our Plans

• Support the dissemination and scale up of learning from successful projects (e.g., using peer networks, publicly celebrating successes and developing systems to roll out successful practices to other areas) to accelerate sustainable transformation.
• Explore new ways of delivering care at or closer to home, meaning fewer patient journeys to hospitals by working collaboratively alongside care services to reduce attendance to multiple appointments.
• Minimise the potential environmental impacts of the digital transition.
• Develop and update a sustainable travel plan, with new modal shift targets supported by an active travel expenses policy and a facilities review.
• Optimise the success of Heat Decarbonisation Plans by exploring external funding and ensuring staff are aware of how best to contribute to the effort.
• Rollout of electronic prescribing across all inpatient areas with the potential to further this across the Trust and extend EPMA systems into community use.
• Improve our local public and private partnerships to enable us to work alongside other Trusts and businesses in reducing the carbon emissions associated with our supply chain.
• Explore software opportunities for interpreting food waste data and assess key areas of waste.
• Have Trust specific plans for flooding and heatwaves where necessary and monitor their risks/occurrence(s).

 

Whether you are a member of staff, a supplier or a patient, if you wish to learn more about the Trust's sustainability programme and how you can help, please contact matthew.greenhill@covwarkpt.nhs.uk .