NHS HMR CCG recognised for excellent sustainability reporting

Simon Wootton, Chief Officer, NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group (HMR CCG) has been recognised for having excellent sustainability reporting as part of their annual report. The CCG has received a certificate for ‘Excellence in sustainability reporting’ awarded by the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU), NHS Improvement and the Health Finance Managers Association (HFMA).

The SDU – which works across the health and care sector on behalf of NHS England and PHE - conducted an analysis of all provider and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) annual reports to evaluate sustainability sections. Forty trusts and forty CCGs (around 17%) have been selected for recognition out of 450 organisations across England.

High quality reporting on sustainability is recognised as a key way organisations can show their commitment to embedding environmental, social and financial sustainability.

Good sustainability reporting is widely recognised as including the following areas:

• Leadership & Engagement – Board level, staff and community.
• Resources - such as energy, water and waste.
• Travel - including staff travel, patient transport, business travel.
• Procurement – including local, community and ethical procurement.
• Adaptation and Transformation.
• New models of care

Simon Wootton, NHS HMR CCG Chief Officer, said: “As a healthcare commissioner, the CCG is committed to planning and buying healthcare on a sustainable basis - meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of tomorrow.

“We support sustainable development in the local health economy by ensuring our commissioning processes support environmental and social sustainability; adopting policies and action plans as a CCG which enhance the environmental and social sustainability of the organisation; and promoting sustainability across our 37 GP practices. We take our responsibility so seriously that we have also incorporated sustainability into our annual staff awards, and our Sustainable STAR award rewards and promotes environmental best practice among GP practices in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale.

“This stamp of excellence for our sustainability reporting recognises our organisation’s hard work and progress made during 2015/2016 and we’re delighted to have received it.”