At the beginning of 2023 Katharine House Hospice did not have a focus on environmental sustainability. The hospice's staff survey had consistently indicated environmental sustainability as the area with the lowest levels of staff satisfaction.
This prompted the hospice to take action. They funded one of their staff members, Helen Lerwill, to attend a 10-week course on sustainability for the workplace. Helen went on to secure funding for a sustainability project, which she now manages.
As part of the project, Katharine House has drawn up a three-year plan to increase the environmental sustainability of the hospice’s charitable arm and support the local NHS Trust to improve. The first year will focus on gathering data and building staff engagement.
Outcomes
The hospice has started gathering data on its environmental impact. This is helping build a picture of where they are already doing well, and where they may need to make changes. Having a strong evidence base grounded in data will help them establish where they can make the most impact.
Helen is working to create a workplace culture around addressing climate change. She has already noticed a change in enthusiasm and awareness across the organisation.
A pot of money has been set aside for staff training on environmental issues, allowing teams to upskill in this area.
Facilitators, challenges and advice
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Key facilitators
Early in 2023, a local Trust made £10,000 of funding available for an environmental sustainability project on a first come, first served basis. This allowed Helen to make the case for the project to the Senior Leadership Team and Board of Trustees. Having a source of available funding and being able to demonstrate that this was an important issue for staff, lent strength to her case.
Hospice staff at all levels are very supportive of the project. Colleagues fed into initial project discussions, making it easier to create a final action plan that worked for teams across the whole organisation.
Helen became a member of Hospice UK’s Hospice Environmental Sustainability Group, which allowed her to build working relationships with other hospices carrying out similar work.
Challenges
Helen has a busy part-time fundraising role at the hospice, which gave her very little time to work on the environmental sustainability project at a meaningful level. Securing the funding for the project enabled the hospice to employ her as a Project Manager one extra day a week.
However, the trust funding only covers the first year of the project, so the hospice will need to find other sources of income for the remaining two years.
Katharine House contracts the NHS to manage their clinical services. This means that the charitable arm of the hospice has very little control over the sustainability of their clinical services. To overcome this, Katharine House is starting to build relationships with their local NHS Trust. This means they can collaborate on and raise awareness of sustainability.
Although staff support the idea of improving environmental sustainability, there have previously been two failed environmental sustainability working groups at the hospice. Helen had to find a way to reignite people’s passion for sustainability and is working to make sure everyone feels involved.
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Tips and advice
This helps to build your contacts and learn more about environmental issues. Having a network can also help you keep your resolve when trying to tackle an issue as big as climate change.
Research free learning opportunities and find out what you are eligible for. You might be surprised at how much training is available for free!
Find out what’s worked and failed for others and apply it to your own situation.
Find out if there are schemes that can encourage your colleagues to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviours. For example, Climate Perks offers extra annual leave for people who use environmentally friendly transport.
It's important to work from the bottom up but also make sure you have the support of your Board of Trustees and Executive Board. Being able to show that colleagues are enthusiastic will give weight to your discussions.
Acknowledge that the things you’re asking people to do might make their jobs harder. People will appreciate this, especially if you are asking them to change the way they work. Make sure you explain why changes need to be made.
It can be very easy to slip into a ‘doom and gloom’ narrative when talking about climate change, but this can be very disheartening. Focusing on the positives helps people feel like they’re moving in the right direction.
Future development
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Katharine House will use the results of the data collection to prioritise the next steps of their sustainability journey. This might include building relationships with external partners, for example to carry out an energy audit or switch suppliers.
