Corporate citizenship: Claiming the health dividend

The government has committed itself to promoting sustainable development in Britain. The NHS - as a major public-sector body that employs a million staff, procures £11 million of goods and services, and disposes of 600,000 tonnes of waste a year - clearly has a significant role to play. How it recruits staff, uses energy or gets rid of rubbish all impact on the environment, which in turn affects the health of the people it exists to serve.

This project, part of the Putting Health First programme of work, aimed to identify how the NHS could implement socially, economically and environmentally aware policies in all aspects of its activities and in doing so, make a direct contribution to the daily health and well-being of its staff, patients and local community.

Key activities included:

Making the case

In 2002, we published a major report that detailed the case for NHS engagement in wider sustainable development.

Corporate citizenship in the NHS - Learning from the innovators

We held a one-day conference in January 2005 to explore and exchange best practice in corporate citizenship.

Regional mapping project

With support from the government's Health Development Agency, we surveyed sustainable development policies and activities in the NHS in all nine English regions, scrutinising hospitals' employment, procurement, building, transport and waste activities.

Advising the government

Our response to the Government's widespread Choosing Health? public consultation on promoting better health puts forward our proposals for how it can support and encourage existing initiatives. The King's Fund also advises the government's Sustainable Development Commission's programme, Healthy Futures.
Read the King's Fund response to the Choosing Health? consultation(133 kb) [pdf]

Better hospital food

Our factsheet, Food for Health, lays out the environmental and health case for investing in better food for patients. We have been commissioned by the Better Hospital Food Programme to research different models of procuring and preparing hospital food, looking at in-hospital catering and out-sourced cook-chill manufactured food.
Read Food for Health (93 kb) [pdf]

Funding and support

Along with the government's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), we support the London Food Link Sustainable Hospital Project and the Sustainable Development Commission's Healthy Futures Programme.

Healthy Hospitals

Through the Enhancing the Healing Environment programme, the King's Fund is supporting work to create a healthier patient and working environment. We also support the campaign for better designed, healthier hospitals being led by the Commission on the Built Environment.