The Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) was a British government agency with the purpose of embedding the principles of

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

, social value and the wider determinants of health across the health and social care system in England. In July 2022, as part of '

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...

' plans for the NHS, the SDU was replaced with the Greener NHS National Programme.

History

NHS SDU was set up in 2008 by the CEO of the NHS,

Sir David Nicholson Sir David Nicholson is a public policy analyst, forthcoming Chair of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, current Chair of Worcestershire acute hospitals NHS trust and NHS manager who was Chief Executive of the National Health Service in En ...

. It was formed by the NHS in England under the auspices of the Office of the Strategic Health Authorities (OSHA) and originally hosted by NHS East of England and its chief executive, Sir Neil McKay. In 2013 the SDU dropped ‘NHS’ from its title when it took on responsibility for the whole health and care sector. It was at this point that it became co-funded by and accountable to both NHS England and Public Health England, and began reporting to a cross-system advisory board with representation from the Department of Health, DEFRA, DoH arm's length bodies (including

NHS Improvement NHS Improvement (NHSI) was a non-departmental body in England, responsible for overseeing the National Health Service's foundation trusts and NHS trusts, as well as independent providers that provide NHS-funded care. It supported providers to ...

NICE Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...

NHS Digital NHS Digital is the trading name of the Health and Social Care Information Centre, which is the national provider of information, data and IT systems for commissioners, analysts and clinicians in health and social care in England, particularly th ...

Health Education England Health Education England (HEE) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. Its function is to provide national leadership and coordination for the education and training within the health and public h ...

) and key national agencies such as

NHS Property Services NHS Property Services is a limited company owned by the Department of Health in the United Kingdom that took over the ownership of around 3,600 National Health Service (NHS) facilities in April 2013. Following the Health and Social Care Act 2012, s ...

King's Fund The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events. Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. Th ...

, the

NHS Confederation The NHS Confederation, formerly the National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts, is a membership body for organisations that commission and provide National Health Service services founded in 1990. The predecessor organisation was calle ...

and

NHS Providers NHS Providers is the membership organisation for NHS trusts in England, which takes part in negotiations between the trusts and the Department of Health and provides development support to trust leaders. Until 2011, it was a section of the NHS Con ...

Replacement

The

Health and Care Act 2022 The Health and Care Act is an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which is intended to dismantle many of the structures established by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Many of the proposals were drafted under ...

amended the

National Health Service Act 2006 The National Health Service Act 2006c 41 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out the structure of the National Health Service in England. It was altered and completely renumbered by the Health and Social Care Act 2012c 7. ...

to require NHS England to contribute towards compliance with the UK's net zero emissions target (the 2050 goal set by the

Climate Change Act 2008 The Climate Change Act 2008 (c 27) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act makes it the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that the net UK carbon account for all six Kyoto greenhouse gases for the year 2050 is at l ...

) and other environmental targets. In response, a 'Greener NHS' national programme was developed, which was described in July 2022 as building on the work of the former Sustainable Development Unit.

Structure and role

The SDU developed tools, policy and research to help people and organisations to promote sustainable development and adapt to climate change. The SDU was co-funded by

NHS England NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the ...

and

Public Health England Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a ...

, and hosted within NHS England. It had a cross-system advisory group that included the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

DEFRA DEFRA may refer to: * Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, United States law * Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom government department {{Disambiguation ...

and most of the major national health agencies. SDU staff were based in Cambridge. The SDU calculated the first comprehensive

carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...

for the NHS in 2008, and in 2012 for the whole health and social care system. In 2008, the NHS was the first major organisation to measure its Scope 3 supply chain carbon emissions, and recognise that it was impossible to achieve its carbon reduction targets without also working to achieve a significant reduction in supply chain emissions.

References

External links

*{{Official website Sustainability organizations Health policy in the United Kingdom Climate change organisations based in the United Kingdom National Health Service (England)