Gold standard in sustainable radiotherapy
Our radiotherapy departments at St Bartholomew’s Hospital are proud to be amongst the first to achieve gold in a nation-wide green framework.
The radiotherapy and radiotherapy physics departments were recognised in the UK Radiotherapy Board’s Green Framework. This important milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to sustainability, in line with the NHS ambition to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040. We are delighted to be playing our part in building a greener, more sustainable health service for patients, staff and our communities.
Angela Baker, head of radiotherapy, said:
This achievement shows that sustainability and high-quality patient care go hand in hand. I am immensely proud of our team for their dedication, innovation and leadership in this area.
Both departments have a long-standing commitment to greener ways of working - from reducing waste and energy use, to cutting emissions, optimising patient travel and delivering shorter, more efficient treatment pathways that help lower our carbon footprint.
These achievements highlight the strength of our multidisciplinary approach, bringing together: therapeutic radiographers, medical physicists, nurses, administration staff, clinical oncologists, the radiotherapy green team and our management teams.
The team have worked incredibly hard on a number of initiatives to achieve this recognition, including:
- Reduction in gown use through a quality improvement project, saving 131kg of CO2e and achieving about an 80% cost reduction, helping to drive wider sustainability work
- Improved waste management and paperless working
- Reduce plastic bottle use
- More sustainable data storage
- Hypofractionated radiotherapy, reducing the number of patient appointments
- Sustainable procurement
- SF6 gas monitoring and management
Together, we are embedding sustainability into everyday practice through quality improvement and collective action.
Dr Niall MacDougall, head of radiotherapy physics, added:
Our physics team is proud to contribute to department, where sustainability and high-quality care progress together. This gold award is the result of genuine cross-disciplinary collaboration.
A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone involved - a fantastic achievement and a true team effort!