Northampton General Hospital
Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust (NGH) is an acute hospital with around 790 beds and a 24-hour Emergency Department (A&E). In addition to the full range of district general hospital care, NGH also provides some specialist services including cancer and stroke services for the county. It has inpatient, day case, diagnostic, maternity and outpatient facilities with a dedicated children’s ward and outpatients. In 2019/20 teams at NGH cared for approximately 135,000 emergency patients and 140,000 patients were referred to us for treatment.
Together with our neighbour, Kettering General Hospital, we will continue to serve our growing population of around 900,000 people across Northamptonshire. This population is varied with a range of needs from our services: There are large and growing numbers of people aged over 70, as well as high numbers of people aged under 20 and new-borns. Around 70% of our population live in urban areas, whilst 30% live in more rural areas. Our county is diverse, with countryside and urban areas, different age groups between local communities, and differing levels of affluence. There are growing levels of ethnic diversity, particularly in more urban areas of the count.
We have been working to reduce our carbon emissions since 2010. Since the last strategy, issued in 2015, Northampton General Hospital has:
- Maintained static carbon emissions from buildings at approximately 30% lower than 2010 levels, despite additional activity and increased occupied floor space.
- Utilised over £1.3million of interest free loans for energy efficiency improvements
- Mostly removed the use of desflurane as an anaesthetic agent, removing approximately 600 tonnes of CO2e.
- Been awarded Highly Commended in the 2020 HSJ Awards for Environmental Sustainability in 2020
- Maintained Investors in the Environment Accreditation for seven years
- Reduced emissions from volatile anaesthetic gases by 75% compared to 2018/19 levels.
- Removed over 1.5 million pieces of single use plastic from our catering department
- Introduced reusable PPE in theatres
- Added solar panels to the new ITU building
- Issued a new Travel Plan
- Improved outdoor spaces available to patients and staff
- Carried out a number of awareness days, including the 12 month long Small Action Big Impact campaign with our waste management company
- Issued its first Climate Change adaptation policy
- Benchmarked its progress against the Sustainable Development Assessment Tool
- Improved help for staff with mental wellbeing challenges
- Introduced remote consultations and remote working during Covid which will become part of its mainstream activities
- Joined the National Performance Advisory Group Sustainability and Waste forums
- Joined the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Committee – an international group made up of producers and healthcare waste managers
- Increased the number of cycle storage facilities, including a number for visitors in a prominent position by the new entrance
- Created parking spaces for eScooters