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Sustainable procurement means purchasing goods and services in ways that maximise positive benefits and minimises negative impacts on society, the economy and the environment throughout the full life-cycle of the product.
The NHS spends around £17 billion a year. It contributes enormously to local economies and has the significant market power needed to drive innovation. Take food, for example, the NHS buys 1.3m chicken legs, 12.3m loaves of bread, 13.5 m kg of potatoes and 250,000 litres of orange juice a year. Overall, the NHS contributes up to 10% of regional GDP, and in more deprived areas an NHS organisation can have an even greater economic impact.
By buying not just from big corporations but from a mix of small, medium and large businesses and social enterprises, an NHS organisation can invest considerably in the economy and community, contributing to regeneration. The right procurement choices can reduce harmful environmental impacts – like producing less waste, minimising the need to transport goods, reducing carbon emissions and other pollution. Sustainable procurement can also impact on an organisation’s reputation and help motivate and inspire staff, patients and visitors. Together these impacts will promote the health of the local population and help reduce health inequalities, and in many cases save resources.
This section covers ethical training, the tendering process, reducing waste and packaging, healthy food choices, supporting local businesses, innovation, supplier management and policies and performance management.
Top 5 Resources
A PASA website packed with guidance and information on environmental
procurement, including guidance for trusts and buyers, green risk methodology
and paper purchasing.
A list of environmentally friendly products available from OGC Buying Solutions.
Designed by Forum for the Future in conjunction with the Welsh Procurement Initiative, this assessment tool helps evaluate the extent to which sustainable procurement is being considered within an organisation.
OGC/Defra joint note on environmental issues in purchasing
A guide to enable environmental issues to be taken into account during the
procurement process within the framework of the Government’s procurement
policy and EC procurement rules.
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Making the case for sustainable procurement: the NHS as a good corporate citizen.
Resources
The Sustainable Procurement Task Force National Action Plan explores
sustainable procurement across the public sector.
Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative
This initiative includes a variety of resources to help organisations to increase the consumption of healthy and nutritious food, increase tenders from small and local producers and reduce adverse environmental impacts of production and supply.
It includes:
aims to provide buyers and non-procurement professionals with a clear and practical guidance to enable the procurement of catering services (including vending and hospitality services) and the procurement of food direct from wholesalers and producers.
leaflet to help public sector buyers (and suppliers) understand and implement the PSFPI with several short case studies.
For more information on the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative in general
A guide to help reduce the environmental impact of conferences and seminars, created by the Government Office South West and partners.
A Commission for Race Equality guide for public bodies, including the NHS, produced to help give practical advice on how to promote race equality when public bodies buy goods, works and services, in order to meet the general duties that the amended Race Relations Act imposes.
A comprehensive PASA website and support tool to help specify waste management services, with links to further information on waste management.
A set of mandatory standards from the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) that need to be included for all new construction projects.
They include a commitment to sustainable development.
Achieving Excellence in Procurement Guide: Sustainability
This Office of Government Commerce (OGC) guide highlights the importance
of sustainable development and sets out the processes by which the public
sector client can procure and deliver construction projects that best promote
sustainable development while still achieving optimum whole life value for
money
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size: 897 Kb
A toolkit to assist decision makers, planners and developers throughout the East Midlands region to evaluate the impacts of their plans, policies and projects on the region’s sustainable development objectives.www.emtoolkit.org.uk/toolkit/
Allows the financial value created by positive social and environmental
impacts to be factored into assessments of the return on a given
investment.
Green risk methodology
A simple tool to prioritise environmental purchasing activity and identify the interventions appropriate for managing the green risks associated with each contract.
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size: 64 Kb
Smaller supplier... better value?
This OGC booklet examines the value for money that small firms can offer and explores the issues that can make it difficult for them to win public sector business, and set out some ideas about how public sector procurement professionals can help.
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size: 1.77 Mb
Capturing Innovation
An OGC guide encouraging procurers to procure innovatively.
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PDF
size: 1 Kb
An OGC guidance document on how to conduct the financial appraisal of suppliers bidding for significant public sector contracts.
The Government Procurement Code of Good Practice
This code of conduct sets out the core values and behaviour for all members of government organisations and their suppliers for procurement
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size: 115 Kb
This website provides support, discussion and access to e-learning.
A measuring tool that enables anyone to assess how a particular business
or initiative impacts on the local economy, and how to improve that impact
to help communities tackle deprivation from within.
Justin Sacks, New Economics Foundation, 020 7820 6382
Outlines the issues surrounding green purchasing in health care, including steps for implementation.
PROGRESS IN PRACTICE
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust's Sustainable Catering project is redeveloping their catering to utilise local markets, personnel and seasonal food.
NHS Trusts in Cornwall
The NHS Trusts in Cornwall are working together to purchase more food from local suppliers and develop jobs locally.
The North West NHS Suppliers Bureau has been established to offer training
to help small enterprises be more successful in securing local NHS contracts,
following a successful pilot involving 21 suppliers and Wirral Hospitals
NHS Trust.
www.nwnhsb.org
An initiative with the Rural Regeneration Unit to promote the use of fresh, healthy food in West Cumberland Hospital.
East Sussex Food and Health Partnership
East Sussex Food and Health Partnership Promoting sustainable local food systems that support improved health and nutrition, for the benefit of consumers, producers and the environment
Welsh Health Supplies
Conwy & Denbighshire NHS Trust, North West Wales NHS Trust and North East Wales NHS Trust are pioneering a new supply chain model through working with Welsh Health Supplies to ensure a more collaborative and sustainable approach to meat procurement, initially by sourcing local Welsh beef.
Bedford Hospital Catering
Bedford Hospital NHS Trust is promoting sustainable development through its catering, by providing healthy, seasonal meals with organic and fair trade options
London Hospital Food Project
A project led by London Food Link, working with the Soil Association, to increase the amount of local and organic food served in four London hospitals.
Royal Brompton Hospital Food Project
As part of the London Hospital Food Project, the Royal Brompton Hospital has successfully increased the amount of local and organic food served in staff restaurants, retail outlets and wards.
DID YOU KNOW?
For every £10 spent on local organic food £25 is generated for the local economy. The same £10 being spent in a supermarket generates only £14 for the local economy
Every 20 minutes the NHS in England uses 46,000 paper towels
The social and environmental costs of food transport are £39 billion a year - more than half is due to road congestion
CASE STUDIES
Waste it Not (WIN)
This project aims to reduce, reuse and recycle waste from Cornwall's NHS
organisations. Initiatives include an intranet website service for
staff, a toolkit for wards/sites to use and efforts to increase
the purchase of products made from recycled materials. For more
information:
Email
Sharon Butler
North West Suppliers Bureau
A support programme for SMEs in the North West offering training on the NHS procurement processes and formal support on health, safety and environmental issues. www.nwnhsb.org
