The NHS in England can take advantage of the health reforms to finally live within its means for the good of society and the environment, a conference on sustainable healthcare has heard.

David Pencheon, director of the NHS’s Sustainable Development Unit, said that the transition to new structures under the Health and Social Care Act was an opportunity “too good to waste.” He said that it would allow new organisations, such as clinical commissioning groups and health and wellbeing boards, to plan to operate sustainably and to use resources more effectively from the outset.

“Transitions, though destabilising, can be a very fertile time and provide a chance for more innovative thinking,” he said.

But he acknowledged that much still needed to …