Negative Impact of Hospitals on the Environment

Why should it be sustainable?

Healthcare sector supposed to be the leader and be an example to other sectors Main employers in community and have high onomic impact.Largest energy consumers and greenhouse gas emitters Produce huge amount of solid and toxic waste products Largest consumers of water and other resources Has a corporate social responsibility.

A sustainable healthcare system works within the available environmental and social resources, protecting and improving health now and for future generations. This means working to reduce carbon emissions, minimising waste & environmental pollution, making the best use of scarce resources, building resilience to a changing climate and nurturing community strengths and assets.”

My Thesis

Hospitals should be cautious about the footprint they create as it creates an impact on the health of the environment, employees and also the patients. Sustainable practices will ensure that the hospital saves time and money and at the same time, they will also gain return on investment.

Taxonomy

Hospitals are not sustainable as they are creating an impact by way of dumping medical waste, wasting water and wasting electricity.This is ultimately creating an impact on the society, government patients and also the employees. 

Environmental Concerns

Wastage of energy Change in climatic conditions Emission of green house gas Generate huge amount of toxic waste (Shy-Lee, 2017)Possible Solutions Usage of lightings that consume less electricity Use reusable drapes and clothes Disposal of hazardous wastes through appropriate methods

Reduce packaging

 usage of unwanted hazardous chemicals should be avoided (Faezipour, 2014) 

Social Concerns

Issues

Health of employees Health of patients Health of the society Lack of understanding of changing environmental condition Possible olutions Preventive measures Educate the patients about the serious health concerns Educate them of the simple preventive health measures Camps to educate the society (Ranke, 2015) 

Economic Concerns

Issues

Increasing cost of equipments Meeting compliance requirements Compulsion to technology & innovation Pressure to reduce price and provide better service Possible Solutions Tie-up with government for funding Lease/rent equipments Sharing technology resources with hospitals (Nascimento 2017)

Shy-Lee, T. (2017). Environmental Sustainability In Hospitals Health Technology Assessment – A Survey, International journal of technology assessment in Health care. 33(S1), 198-199

Faezipour, M. (2014). A systems thinking approach to apply water sustainability in hospitals. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. 32(25), 78-95

Ranke, T. (2015). Evaluation of the Balanced Menus Challenge: a healthy food andsustainability programme in hospitals in Maryland. Public Health Nutrition. 18(13), 2341-2349

 Nascimento, G . (2017). Corporate sustainability practices in accredited Brazilian hospitals: a degree-of-maturity assessment of the environmental dimension. Revista de Administração. 52(1), 26-35

Conclusion

The essay would study the scenario in Australia The issues would be narrowed down and only few sustainability issued would be addressed.The impact of non-sustainable practices on the society would be analysed Few examples would be explored The role of government would also be explored.