Our Community: Environmental Initiatives

Environmental Initiatives

To support the Ramsay Health Care corporate directions on the environment and sustainable development, Greenslopes Private Hospital has created the Environmental Efficiencies Committee. This committee’s charter is to promote awareness and resource efficiency to staff through the provision of practical advice and usage targets and achievements. We are also seeking input from the GPH community on campus as to how we can focus our efforts to achieve efficiencies/reductions in:

• Pollutants
• Water usage
• Waste disposal

The committee members include members of a broad cross section of hospital departments including:

• Executive
• Infection Control
• Property Services
• CSSD
• Environmental Services
• Grounds & Gardens
• Catering
• Clinical areas including ICU and Operating Theatre.

What is Sustainable Development?
These words derive from the fact that current practice, in the use of resources and impact on the environment, is not sustainable – if we keep on as we are, we will run out of some critical needs like water or energy. And if we don’t run out, we will irretrievably damage the planet from disposing of the by-products. Yet much of our current consumption is absolutely wasted, even more could result in the same benefit for less consumption (that is could be used more efficiently), while some we will just have to learn to live without. Sustainable Development is therefore about moderating our use of non-renewable resources by being smarter and more efficient, and minimising the consequences (such as Greenhouse Gases), to a level that can continue indefinitely.

What is the Government doing?
There is an increasing regulatory structure in place to monitor, support and require efficiencies in use of resources, particularly water and all forms of energy, and reduction of consequences such as emission of Greenhouse Gases. Because of the size of Ramsay Health Care, we are among the first organisations required to meet these targets.

What is Ramsay Health Care doing?
We recognise the cost advantages of being more efficient, the need to fully cooperate and comply with Government requirements, and the need to meet our Corporate Social Responsibilities to the community that supports us, by doing our part in changing to Sustainable Development. While dire predictions of what it will be like in 2050 suggest the timescales to change are long, the changes required are also extensive, and the sooner society (and Ramsay) get to work on making our processes sustainable, the less damage we will do, and the less impact when we hit the wall. Ramsay Health Care has set the Environment and Sustainable Development up as a priority issue, and is resourcing the expertise and capital to make the investment in our future as quickly as possible.

What can we all do?
This is one case where you, your children, your company, your community and your species will all benefit or suffer from your actions. Don’t waste – why leave the lights on when you leave a room? Why not be more efficient – everyone benefits if you get the same job done using less. The most useful, inexhaustible, renewable resource is cleverness – but only if you share it.

Brisbane and Ramsay Health Care have achieved extraordinary success in reducing water consumption, because we had to.

The next aim is to achieve the same with our use of energy and other resources, because we have to and because we want to.