NHS bosses commit to climate change strategy amid plan to remove petrol and diesel vehicles from fleet

The plans are in response to Scottish Government targets and use data from a climate emergency and sustainability report presented to the NHS Ayrshire and Arran board.

Work is ongoing to identify what actions they can take to mitigate against climate change. The risk already identified from their climate change assessment is: overheating in wards and clinical areas - causing flooding risks to their properties and service disruption.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran have 142 buildings, including acute hospitals, long-term community care hospitals, health centres and clinics. In 2022-23, 15,675 tonnes of CO2 equivalent was produced.

Last year, to reduce emissions, hospital chiefs introduced LED lighting across various NHS sites, replaced boilers, installed electric vehicle charging points and introduced 100 electric vehicles.

The health board is also working to remove all petrol and diesel fuelled cars from its fleet by 2025.

This year there will be further LED lighting installations, water leak repair work and the introduction of another 100 electric vehicles.

All NHS boards must submit annual property asset management strategies. The plan will be reviewed and monitored through the climate emergency and sustainability operational group and will be taken to the board’s resilience group for further review.

The board aim to use renewable heat sources for all buildings owned by NHS Ayrshire and Arran by 2038.