HSE board criticises Government climate change targets and suggests ‘rewilding’ HQ

The Health Service Executive should rewild the grounds of its headquarters at Dr Steeven’s Hospital in Dublin as a visible sign of commitment to its climate change strategy, the organisation’s board has suggested.

The Government’s aim of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050 “should be more ambitious”, according to the board which stressed the HSE has a “key role” in tackling the climate crisis.

The heating of hospitals and other health sites is to be switched from fossil fuel systems to electrically driven heat pumps under the strategy, and staff are looking at the potential for using district heating and other, new technologies, HSE officials have told the board.

‘Green fleet’

The Department of Health is very supportive of HSE plans for sustainable travel for patients, the April board meeting heard, and ambulance staff are developing a “green fleet”. Members questioned whether access to healthcare is a consideration in the new BusConnects reorganisation of urban bus services.

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Under the strategy, the HSE aims to cut energy usage in health by 50 per cent and energy-related emissions by 51 per cent by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. Healthcare is estimated to contribute 5 to 15 per cent of net global emissions.

“The HSE has a key role to play in tackling the climate crisis by further developing options to curb its own emissions and understanding the link between environmental pollution and disease, and environmental quality with population health,” the board noted.

Toxic waste

Under the strategy, an initial focus will be on reducing building- and energy-related emissions, according to staff leading the strategy. The board called for outcomes such as energy consumption to be measured and published regularly.

The HSE also plans to reduce the amount of toxic waste it produces, initially by better separation of the different categories of waste.

HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster said the plan had three main objectives: stopping the growth of current behaviour; reversing consumption; and future-proofing. The board stressed there should also be long-term cost-saving.

Welcoming publication of the strategy as a “basic first step”, Irish Doctors for the Environment stressed that “mere aspirations are not enough. Words like review, survey, establish, investigate and identify dominate the strategy, while words like measure, commit and act are missing.”