Reflections from our first Rethinking Our Health codesign workshops.

Codesign events with communities and partners 

July saw an important milestone in Rethinking Our Health, with our test site partners we held community codesign events to share back the findings of the engagement phase, and to discuss practical ideas to take forward in the autumn. These will be focused on our goal of community-designed, clinically backed support for people with or at risk of osteo-arthritis, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

A mix of lived and professional experience

At both events we had a half and half mixture of community members and people who work in health, local government, and the voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector.   

Designing the events with the community 

Both events were planned with our test site partners and community members, and this is key to how they went. This meant focusing on the biggest things people told us about in the engagement phase – there were pain, access to services, understanding and confidence around your condition, practical social and financial barriers.   

Two areas, two approaches 

In one test site there has been a history of (and a funded infrastructure for) conversations and partnership working. Over the last ten years, many issues have been discussed, the progress both desired and created by all, the codesign event felt natural. It felt like we could ask things of each other.   

In our other area leadership is more dispersed, local government takes a bigger role in leading and encouraging community health and engagement partnership working. Test site partners took a participatory appraisal approach to developing community engagement in our big question, and the pre-event work was important to building interest and confidence to take part.   

Shared energy and commitment 

One thing in common was that both events were buzzing with enthusiasm and commitment to neighbourhoods was clear. There is a real appetite for building on existing or previous work, ambition for better solutions and understanding that so much of this is built on relationships.   

What we heard: Key themes from the codesigns 

Key themes that came out of both events were  

• desire for local, early, holistic support  
• positive and ambitious views on the role of community and VCSE in this  
• community engagement and mobilisation, patient leadership and voice is critical  
• importance of being heard, and *feeling* heard – both in individual situations as well as a community  

We heard a range of views about what kind of support could be given by clinicians versus non-clinicians, and creating different configurations of how community and clinician support could be offered together. 

Clinical risk and collaboration 

There’s an important discussion to be had about understanding and managing any clinical risk, which Here as a clinical and community-rooted organisation is well-placed to host.   

Looking ahead 

For now, sign up to receive an update when we publish the next blog. Want to get in touch about Rethinking Our Health? Email us: Collab@HereWeAre.org

We’re delighted to share that Community Appointments Days (CADs), developed by Here as part of Sussex MSK Partnership has been shortlisted for a 2025 HSJ Award in the Primary and Community Care Innovation of the Year category. 

This shortlisting is a celebration of the collaborative effort that brought CADs to life – including our brilliant partners at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, local VCSE organisations, and the dedicated clinicians, care navigators and volunteers who are reimagining care with us. 

Community Appointment Days (CADs)

Our entry showcases the innovative CAD model of care co-designed with patients, clinicians and voluntary sector partners. CADs are transforming how people experience MSK (musculoskeletal) support by bringing together whole teams of professionals in local community spaces, and delivering same-day, person-centred care shaped around individual priorities. 

“What could have taken a few months was made possible in 1.5 hours.”
— Patient feedback from a CAD 

The CAD vision

Born from a vision to take care out of hospitals and into the heart of communities, CADs enable people to get the support they need in one visit – from clinical advice and self-management plans to wellbeing coaching and social prescribing. With over half of attendees discharged to self-care on the day, and outstanding feedback from both patients and staff, CADs are delivering real impact – and a powerful example of what becomes possible when we start with trust, partnership, and the question “What matters to you?” 

Our shortlisted entry for Community Appointment Days, was selected following a rigorous judging process and has been recognised as a standout example of excellence in healthcare delivery. 

HSJ Editor Alastair McLellan commented: “On behalf of all my colleagues, it gives me great pleasure to congratulate Here on being shortlisted as a finalist in the category of Primary and Community Care Innovation of the Year. All of the applications represent the ‘very best of the NHS’ and often leave our esteemed panel of judges with an impossible choice! Year on year the number of entrants continue to rise which I find so encouraging and is testament to the effect that HSJ Awards can have on improved staff culture and morale.” 

We’re proud to stand alongside others who are pushing boundaries and demonstrating that integrated, person-centred care is not just possible, but essential for the future of healthcare. 

Thank you to everyone involved and congratulations to all the other inspiring projects and teams shortlisted this year! 

Introducing Rethinking Our Health – a new way of working with communities to support people living with long-term conditions. 

Rethinking Our Health is a new collaboration between Here and The King’s Fund, bringing together communities and organisations across Sussex to explore new ways of supporting people living with multiple long-term conditions. 

Together with partners in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, primary care, and local government, we’ll be focusing on two neighbourhood test sites: 

• Wick in Littlehampton, supported by the Arun Integrated Community Team (ICT), and 

• Hangleton & Knoll in Brighton & Hove, supported by the West Brighton & Hove ICT. 

Why is this needed? 

Long-term conditions (LTCs) are among the most pressing issues in health and social care in the UK. These chronic illnesses require sustained, ongoing management, and an increasing number of people are living with more than one condition. 

This rise in multiple long-term conditions is having a serious and growing impact on individuals, families, communities, the economy, and our health and care services. 

However, formal healthcare only accounts for around 20 per cent of a person’s health outcomes. The remaining 80 per cent are influenced by social factors, health behaviours and the physical environment. This means we need to look beyond traditional ways of working and rethink how people, communities, and professionals across health and other sectors come together to design solutions.

Who we’re working with 

Wick test site partners 
Voluntary Action Arun & Chichester, Arun District Council, West Sussex County Council, Arun ICT 

West Brighton & Hove test site partners 
The Hangleton & Knoll Project, Portslade Health Centre 

What we’re aiming to do 

People with more than one long-term condition often face a tangled web of barriers to managing their health, not only clinical symptoms, but also housing pressures, transport issues, isolation, work stress, or caring responsibilities. 

Rethinking Our Health is about working with communities to design and test new ways of offering support that will: 

• be rooted in the community and built around people’s real lives 

• be clinically backed and co-designed with local professionals 

• recognise and respond to the social and environmental barriers people face 

• help prevent the development of additional conditions 

Initially, we will focus on supporting people living with osteoarthritis, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which are often experienced together. We expect pain and mental health to be important factors in this work, although persistent pain will not be included in the project. 

What we know 

We know that people face a wide range of barriers when it comes to managing their health. These include: 

• social factors such as housing, work, transport and caring responsibilities 

• the combined impact of multiple conditions 

• fragmented services which treat conditions in isolation 

• isolation or a lack of local support 

• limited knowledge, confidence or skills to manage their health 

How we’ll work 

The project will unfold over four phases: 

• Community engagement (May–June 2025): Listening to local voices and experiences 

• Co-design sessions (July 2025): Shaping the new approach together 

• Delivery of the new Rethinking Our Health offer (autumn 2025 onwards) 

• Evaluation of the impact and process (autumn 2025 onwards) 

Our principles 

Everything we do will be underpinned by a shared set of values and principles: 

• Asset-based and community-led: starting with strengths, not just needs 

• Clinically backed, co-delivered: health professionals and communities working together 

• Personalised care: support tailored to each person’s life and goals 

• Equal weight to social and clinical factors 

• Addressing health inequalities head-on 

• Trauma-informed ways of working 

• Generous leadership and open sharing of what we learn 

Stay connected 

 If you would like to know more or get involved, please contact jo.crease@nhs.net.

We will be sharing our learning and progress as the project develops on our blog.

Today we’re publishing the evaluation of Menopause@Work, a programme we co-led with Brighton & Hove City Council to support menopause awareness and action in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

Our intention from the start was to bring expertise out of the clinic and into the everyday situations people live and work in, blending it with local knowledge and community insight to create something truly practical and grounded. 

With the final evaluation now complete, we’re sharing what we’ve learned. 

Key insights from the Menopause at Work report

Online learning, convenient and helpful, alone wasn’t enough. What people valued most were the live events: spaces to talk, connect, and feel heard. 

The programme helped individuals grow in confidence and knowledge, and in many cases led to practical changes at work. But lasting, systemic change remains slow, especially where leadership support or resource is lacking. 

If workplaces want to truly support staff through menopause, they need to move beyond individual action and bring leadership along with them. 

Grounding menopause support in the real world

One of the programme’s core ambitions was to bring clinically informed expertise into the everyday spaces where people live and work. The evaluation shows this mattered. Participants responded most positively to live, discussion-based events that created safe, relatable spaces. By combining expert knowledge with local understanding and real-world context, the programme helped translate information into action. Small, practical changes, like adjusting uniforms or offering flexible breaks, came directly from these conversations. 

We hope this evaluation offers valuable insight for others working to create more supportive, inclusive workplaces. 

Download the full Menopause@Work evaluation here.

If you’re working to make your organisation more menopause-friendly, or curious about how we co-design our projects and services, we’d love to talk: drop us a line at Collab@hereweare.co.uk  

Care Navigation/Social Prescribing is a model that enables health and social care professionals to refer people to a range of non-medical services within their community to improve and support social, mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Recognising that people’s health and wellbeing is affected by a range of social, economic, and environmental factors.

Care Navigation takes a holistic approach that enables people to take control of their own health. With the practical and emotional support of a Care Navigator this allows people to identify ways to improve how they are feeling.

How does it work?

Our Care Navigators spend time helping people to focus on ‘what matters’ to them. They assess the needs of each individual and together create a personalised care and support plan. This may involve connecting them to community groups, classes, workshops, or even advisory bodies for legal advice or debt counselling.

Care Navigating success

There is increasing evidence in the success of Care Navigating/Social Prescribing and the impact it has on both individuals and communities.

“In one evaluation, six care navigators from voluntary care organisations worked in integrated health and social care teams across and county. They carried out up to six face to face interviews with an older person, with a unit cost of £42 (compared to £213 per visit for adult social worker). Health related quality of life measures improved by 17%, people needed to use fewer health services and the project was overall cost effective.” ~ Care Navigation: A Competency Framework

“Thank you so much, you’ve helped me to realise there are resources out there for me” – Patient was experiencing homelessness

Is there a difference between Care Navigators and Social Prescribers?

There is no universal definition of care navigation a variety of titles are used, including ‘care navigator (CN)’, ‘social prescriber (SP)’ and ‘link worker’. All these roles provide effective navigation and is a key element of delivering coordinated, person-centred care and support.

Care Navigators are often existing members of staff within Community Services and GP practices. At Sussex MSK Health, our Care Navigators work closely with clinicians, which helps to free up valuable clinical time for addressing physical health needs, while Care Navigators can focusing on non-medical and wellbeing concerns. By providing this additional support patients receive holistic care that extends beyond clinical treatment.

Why have Care Navigators as part of our MSK service?

• Help and support with barriers to appointments.
• Liaise with clinicians/admin teams/clinical teams.
• A chance for patients to unpack, reflect and think about their next steps.
• Help people in multiple pathways within MSK and help make sense of their treatment plans.
• Help stop people falling through the cracks and bouncing in and out of the service.
• There are incredible resources out in the community – directing people more quickly to these can benefit the person.

Many things affect our health and wellbeing. We can all sometimes feel isolated, lonely, or stressed out by work or money. It can also be very difficult dealing with the stress of managing a long-term condition.

We now have a team of 8 people who are helping patients deal with similar concerns every day, creating personalised support plans for our patients giving them access the support and resources they need to help them feel better.

Read more about Personalised Care/ Social Prescribing on the NHS website: NHS England » Social prescribing

Or if you’d like to learn more about our MSK service you can find out more here: Community MSK Services in Sussex – Here

In the realm of healthcare, patient education plays a pivotal role in ensuring individuals understand their conditions, treatments, and how to manage their health effectively.

Shaping services around the needs of our population

We know that conveying complex medical information in a clear and accessible manner can be challenging. This is where Sussex MSK Partnership Central‘s animations step in, rethinking the way healthcare information is delivered to patients. 

Their three short videos – Introduction to Musculoskeletal Health, What to Expect and How to Prepare for Your Appointment and Person Initiated Follow Up offer simplicity in messaging, providing people with a clear understanding of the term MSK and what to expect from the service.

Accessible videos for people receiving MSK care

Accessible information about the services we offer

Jo Hall, Professional Lead at Sussex MSK Partnership, reflects: 

 As part of Personalised Care and understanding what matters most to people, we know how important it is to support people with friendly, accessible information about the services we offer, what to expect, and how to prepare, to enable them to make the most of any contact they have with us.  

It also goes beyond this – helping inform people about MSK health and beyond, offering reassurance and signposting to support living well within their community. 

By simplifying medical jargon and presenting information in a visually engaging format, people can grasp crucial healthcare insights more easily.

Through colourful visuals and dynamic storytelling, patients are not only informed but also entertained, making the learning process more enjoyable and effective. 

“We gained a lot of insight from our communities at The Big Conversation, hearing that people didn’t understand what MSK meant, who we are as a service and what we offer. It made a big difference to work with them to shape our animation to suit the needs of the end user.” Jo Hall, Professional Lead at Sussex MSK Partnership

Speaking directly to people at their Big Conversation events allowed the MSK service to understand what the local population wants and needs when it comes to accessible healthcare, helping to shape their offerings. By incorporating feedback and insights from these events, Sussex MSK Partnership Central ensured their animations provide valuable information but also resonate with and cater to the diverse needs of the community they serve. 

The team worked on the videos with local designer Katie Merrien, Founder of CommuniKate Design, who breaks down complex information into digestible, visual narratives.  

The service has also produced offline assets, including posters and leaflets, to ensure those who don’t have digital access can still benefit from the content of the video.

Furthermore, with incorporation of British Sign Language (BSL) this adds an invaluable layer of accessibility for deaf or hard of hearing individuals, ensuring that no one is left behind in understanding their healthcare journey.

Our work at Here focusses on bringing together service improvement, lived experience and data.

Last June we joined the Sussex Health Equity Fellowship, a brand new programme created by Sussex Health and Care and partnered with Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network.

We were extremely keen to be involved and were thrilled that of the eight places offered two of our team were accepted onto the programme.

Fern Bolwell, Learning Lead and Tom Golden, Business Intelligence Analyst at Here both took part in the programme. We felt that having people from both an operational and data and a analytics perspective would of huge benefit due to how equity learning could be used by these different skills areas.

In this blog, Fern shares her more about the Fellowship and reflects on what both she personally and us as an organisation have learned from the experience.

What is the Health Equity Fellowship? 

The Health Equity Fellowship is a nine-month programme delivered by NHS Sussex and Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex. The programme aims to equip participants with the skills and knowledge to become key change agents within their organisations, promoting a focus on equity and reducing health inequalities. 

The Fellowship is delivered through a mixture of lectures, webinars, action learning sets, mentoring and connection to each other’s knowledge and experience. Alongside this, Fellows complete a work-based project with a goal of improving health equity.

‘We know that our society is not fair and equitable, and many people face

 

 

 

systematised and institutional discrimination and cannot thrive in the conditions in which they live. We recognise the structural and cultural inequalities that are embedded in our wider society, and that this impacts our work in health and care. We recognise the inequities in the healthcare system and we want to work to address those.’ 

I have always been passionate about justice and fairness in society and ensuring everyone’s voices are heard and acted on. My professional goal is to realise this mission through the work that I am doing with Sussex MSK Partnership and ensure that health equity is always considered in each decision for the patients who need it most.  

For me the opportunity to be a part of the Fellowship came at a key moment of change for the Sussex MSK Partnership as we looked to the future and worked on how to deliver healthcare differently.

What skills did we bring?

Sussex MSK Partnership had already set aside dedicated project groups to focus on health equity. This work has been divided into 3 workstreams – Data, Staff Support and Community.

I work across each project group and was able to see where each intersected and supported the other. We first focused on an evidence-based approach through both community outreach and data gathering to ensure the changes we make, make a difference where it is most needed.

The way we work at Here meant we were able to be agile and encouraged to be innovative and forward thinking in approaches to delivering healthcare. 

What have been the results? 

The Health Equity Fellowship gave me the opportunity to grow my capability in population health, innovation and evaluation. My understanding increased in applying an equity lens to change initiatives. As well as expanding my network and connecting me to experts in a wide range of relevant areas.

Following the fellowship, I presented at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust and Sussex Medical School’s Anti Racism event to showcase our work at Sussex MSK Partnership. 

I felt truly inspired by the dedication of the team leading the Fellowship and emboldened by their hope, even when honestly discussing the real challenge and shocking impact of inequity and prejudice.  

During the 9 months of the Fellowship I was able to work on: 

• Community Appointment Days (a patient journey offered in the community alongside VSOs).  

• Improving our data capture and reporting to be able to see, at a glance, differences between access, experience and journey of different groups of patients.

• Used our data to inform where we should be supporting our community, through this evidence, we connected with Crawley Asian networks. 

• Shared the learning from the fellowship and delivered training for all Here colleagues on health equity. 

• Simplified the interpreter booking process to address inequity.

• Created a new process to ensure patients with adjustments were flagged on our systems so that we can proactively support their needs.

What is our learning and what are we taking forward from this? 

The Fellowship experience has extended my confidence, competency and language to challenge and advocate for health equity in projects, process, the workplace and the wider world. 

I actively seek out to surface where there are challenges for patients and colleagues based on protected characteristics.  focused on fixing, improving and most importantly sharing the learning and awareness for future prevention of inequity.

I am grateful to those who speak up and teach me. It has shifted my vision to a world where I am no longer blind to inequity. 

Earlier this month Sussex Health and Care Fellowship held a webinar to share more information about the programme, Fern was invited to talk and share her experience – you can watch it in full below.

How can you get involved?  

The Sussex Health Equity Fellowship is now recruiting for a new cohort of Fellows – details on how to apply are below. 

1. Health Innovation KSS website: https://healthinnovation-kss.com/news/sussex-health-equity-fellowship-opens-for-applications/ 
2. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7224325761082552320
3. Twitter: https://x.com/HealthInnov_KSS/status/1818563477654417445
   
4. Applications close on 2nd September 2024, 11:59pm

“By creating a mission around health equity, we can connect our staff to a bolder vision for their work, with healthcare workers as agents of social change, making a difference to our world rather than processing an endless chain of individuals passing through.”

In 1834 Britain passed the Poor Law, an act of Parliament partially creating a safety net for all, but also enshrining a principle of deterring people from making unnecessary demands on public funds that remains present in today’s national debate.  

The infirmaries that grew from the poor house would soon be described as “a disgrace to our civilisation” (Lancet 1865) and served as inspiration for the alternative visions of Beveridge and Bevan a generation on.  

The Marmot review in 2010 and ten years on (2020), along with the desperately disproportionate impact of COVID show how slow our progress has been.

Health inequalities today

In today’s Britain, healthy life expectancy remains widely divided between rich and poor with inequities widening since 2010 English indices of deprivation 2019 – GOV.UK

Nye Bevan’s vision for the NHS was a far-reaching reform of access to healthcare, with a more dramatically socialist root than is widely spoken of.

In providing universal access to healthcare, free at the point of delivery, Bevan viewed the NHS as part of an infrastructure that would dismantle division of class and wealth.

When we talk about health inequalities today, we often think of correcting poorer health outcomes, and less about social justice.

There is a risk that we fail to recognise in real terms the need to deliver more (and different) health and social care interventions for some people, rather than just making sure there is equal access to the traditional offer.

Shifting the language from health inequalities to creating health equity

More insidiously, at times of high demand, services can pivot to the quick wins, trying to reduce overall waits or meet blunt targets. At these times, delivering care to groups with different needs can feel more challenging, ‘complex’, and bypassed on route to the ‘low hanging fruit’.

Wider than this, we know the presence of health conditions or caring responsibilities adds disadvantage over time, a vicious cycle where 54% of carers report their own health had suffered, and 44% had put off seeking health treatment because of their responsibilities. For these groups ‘equal’ access to treatment as usual will not meet their need.  

Shifting the language from health inequalities to creating health equity paints a much broader picture.

It engages our services in recognising that part of the mission of the NHS is a social justice one, that we are a part of how wealth is re-distributed, by providing safe, universal, free access to healthcare, we can balance the accident of birth. As Marmot says, “if health has stopped improving, it is a sign that society has stopped improving”. 

Healthcare workers agents of social change

By creating a mission around health equity, we can connect our staff to a bolder vision for their work, with healthcare workers as agents of social change, making a difference to our world rather than processing an endless chain of individuals passing through.

From this lens, we are stretched to consider what more we can do, taking proactive approaches to the delivery of health, seeking out places and populations who we know are disadvantaged, and playing our part in levelling the playing field.

With this focus, our task is shaped differently. No longer do we look at access data in terms of whether it is representative of our population, but whether it is representative of our population need. 

Our programs and services spend more in areas of deprivation, understand that delivery methods than may be more expensive, and focus on the value this represents in lifting the disproportionate distribution of wealth (in its widest sense).

Doing things differently for a better world

More contentiously it could mean sifting through these long waiting lists differently – to identify those who are disproportionately impacted, less advantaged, less resilient, less able to wait, in service of a fairer society.

It is as much part of our social mission as it is our commissioned services, and we want to do more. We are not alone. Despite all of the pressures within the NHS, we know there is a growing emphasis and commitment to the pursuit of a better world, a drive for health equity at every stage of our lives.  

Through our data dashboards and outreach programs (Vax and CAD), we have learned about how to deliver healthcare differently. Delivering quick, efficient healthcare to the many, and bespoke, targeted offers to the few.

We believe we’re stronger together. If you’d like to work with us to find new and innovative ways of growing health equity then we would love to hear from you.

Get in touch: collab@hereweare.org.uk

Do you have experience in helping social purpose organisations define, measure and report on their social impact?

We would like to work with you. For more information click the link below to download the PDF.

Deadline for response: 19th September 2024

Please feel free to share with anyone else you might think would like to work with us. 

To discuss the brief or to submit your quote, please email: jo.crease@nhs.net

The UN Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 global goals adopted by all United Nations Member States. They are designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”.

Every few weeks we will share Here’s progress on one of these goals. Last month we were focused on Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

“Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.” 

Let’s look at how Here has been a significant local employer for the last few years.

The chart below shows the carbon emission impact from al of Here’s purchases. To measure this, we must categorise all of Here’s purchases into types and apply different carbon factors per group, depending on their impact on the environment. Here’s biggest category by far is “Services” where we purchase some kind of service from a supplier. This could be a professional service such as accounting or legal, of physiotherapy services, or courier services.

In 19/20 we had the Wellbeing service, and Benfield, the latter which we also had until the end of July 2021. Our consumption has reduced dramatically since then but has plateaued despite having less people. We will be looking at this by service over the year and working with teams to see where we can reduce the carbon impact.

What else have we done to promote responsible consumption and production?

For our employees:

• Our twice-weekly free vegan lunches for staff at 177 office have not only provided a sustainable way for our employees to have lunch, but also introduced to many vegan recipes and allowed them to experience how tasty they can be.
• As well as using local suppliers where possible, we bulk buy our office refreshment supplies from  a co-operative Infinity Foods. We also buying our stationary in bulk to reduce delivery carbon impact.
• Our electricity energy consumption is from Octopus which is 100% sustainable energy, we also have solar panels on roof.
• We recycle as much as possible in the office, including food waste, batteries and vapes. In 23/24, the amount we recycled went down by 19% but the amount we sent to landfill went down by 5% too.

• In 2020 we switched everyone to using laptops, which consumes 80% less energy than  desktops. We also limited the use of screens at home to one, which reduces our consumption and personal energy use.
• We switched most of our printers to print in black and white
• For our participation in Pride last year, we made sure that our purchasing was sustainable,  sustainably sourced T Shirts and resources that can be reused for subsequent events.
• For off-sites and awaydays we have been re-thinking our venue choice to use local venues and those with better public transport links to reduce the carbon travel impact. Where possible, we actively encourage lift-sharing. Board meetings are now held at the Worth Corner Business Centre rather than Spithurst Hub to reduce the carbon impact. After comparing the data between the travel to Spithurst and the new location in Crawley so far in 2024, we have seen a reduction of 70% in the volume of carbon generated by this travel (from 121.5 kg of CO2 to 35.5kg of CO2).

For our patients:  

We encourage responsible consumption and disposal of medical supplies with our provision of NHS services. This will be an area of focus for Here in 24/25.

Transition to animations and website and apps for MSK, but also need hard copy to enable accessibility. Aim to measure carbon impact of difference ways of accessing advice.

For our wider community: 

Here has been conducting a review of suppliers to encourage us to choose suppliers who are:

• Small (less than 50 employees)
• Local
• A social enterprise
• Have green credentials
• Are modern slavery cognizant
• Pay the Real Living Wage

What do we plan to do?   

• In 24/25 we plan to work with all our services to review how we can be more responsible in our consumption of medical supplies and in their disposal. We hope to work with other local teams to share best practice and supplier knowledge. Lesley Jay and Kristin Francis have already joined the Greener Practice network where they share knowledge in primary care across Sussex. We plan to review our consumption patterns by service, and work with the operational teams to see how we can rethink or reduce our consumption and thereby reduce our carbon footprint. We plan to share the learning across services and embed it into any future services.

• The Sustainability Team and working with MSK to review the carbon savings from our MSK Transformation projects, which we plan to report on as we complete the analysis.

• Knight Frank have agreed to add Sustainability as a standing agenda item for the 6 monthly tenants meetings going forward.
• We plan to reach out to other partners we work with about sustainability goals e.g. Clinical Education and Yma.

Are we supporting any suppliers who are doing good in this area?

In 23/24, we spent £12k with Solus who are a supplier of refreshments, t-shirts and stationary for Here.

We support them as a business as they have received an ISO14001 Environmental Management System accreditation, with 60% of their energy usage from their own solar energy system. They also have zero-emission delivery fleets and are committed to eliminating unnecessary supply chain packaging.

What can we do at home to responsible consumption and production? 

• We have hit peak stuff. A bold statement, but we can avoid adding to this problem by encouraging a circular economy.  Want to know more? Here is a useful link.

• Nearly all of us now are committed to using reusable water bottles and coffee mugs, rather than plastic options which are purchased and thrown away.

• Recycle, recycle recycle!

• Buy social – next time you are purchasing, have a quick look in the Social Supermarket where you can buy all sorts of things direct from social enterprises. Be warned though, you can get lost for hours just browsing all the brilliant products!

• Holidays – measure the impact of your own carbon footprint and the impact of your actions using this calculator.

Reduce waste weblink: Love Food Hate Waste / Preventing food waste

A charity who work with 153 organisations across Sussex and Surrey to redistribute surplus produce to those who need it most through their networks.

The Real Junk Food Project in Brighton, has the wonderful tag line of “Feed bellies not bins”. They intercept food waste destined for landfill and use it to feed people in cafes, projects and pop-ups on a “pay as you feel” basis. Those in need are not degraded or shamed for taking a free or cheap meal, likewise those who can afford it are not pestered into more and more donations. Everyone is equal in getting fed, it is up to the individual to pay what they feel.

What responsible production and consumption campaign days can you get involved with?  

March 30 International day of zero waste driven by the UN to raise awareness of the issues in the waste production and removal process globally and what is being done to help.

May 8 World Fair Trade Day a global celebration held on the second Saturday in May to help us envision a world where trade helps support small-scale farmers, producers and their families, cultivating healthy and sustainable communities globally.

June 16 World Refill Day is a global campaign to prevent plastic pollution and help people live with less waste. A day of action uniting our global community every year on 16th June, the campaign is designed to create an alternative vision of the future and accelerate the transition away from single-use plastic towards refill & reuse systems.

July Plastic Free July^® is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.

The Sustainability Team