NHS needs to do more to meet UK targets on greenhouse gases

The policy of paying hospitals for the activity they undertake, which encourages patients to be treated in hospital rather than the community, needs to be reviewed to improve the environmental sustainability of the NHS, says the health policy think tank the King’s Fund.

The NHS needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a further 4% a year up to 2020 if the United Kingdom’s international commitments on the environment are to be met, the fund has calculated. Although the NHS has made much progress to make it more environmentally responsible (BMJ 2012;344:e1689, 7 Mar, doi:10.1136/bmj.e1689), concerted action to reduce emissions is not yet on the scale it needs …