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Sustainable healthcare

Sustainable healthcare

Transforming healthcare for a sustainable future

As a global healthcare company, we understand that health and the environment are closely connected.

To meet the health needs of the present, without compromising the health of future generations, we must embrace the highest quality care, with the lowest possible environmental impact.

By reusing resources and minimising waste, we can act in a way that supports both people and planet health.

Exploring sustainable healthcare

At Bupa, it describes a system that meets the health needs of the present, without compromising the health of future generations.

Sustainable healthcare is about understanding that our health – and that of our environment around us – are intrinsically linked, and acting in a way that supports both people and planet health.

In practice, sustainable healthcare is underpinned by three core principles:

1. Sustainable prevention

Keeping people as healthy as possible for as long as possible – and empowering them to take an active role in their health and wellbeing – reduces the risk of them becoming unwell or needing to receive treatment and consume healthcare resources in the first place.

Focusing on primary prevention (health and lifestyle), secondary prevention (screening to identify disease in its earliest stage) and tertiary prevention (reducing the effects of established disease) can deliver both near-term and long-term sustainability benefits through lower healthcare consumption.

2. Sustainable pathways

When access to healthcare services is required, simplifying access routes and catching diseases in their earliest stages are often associated with less resource-intensive treatment.

By getting people to the right service at the right time and making healthcare pathways more efficient and joined-up (for example, by implementing initiatives such as digital triage and "one-stop" diagnostic clinics) you can reduce healthcare’s environmental footprint through reductions in patient travel and removing the unnecessary or duplicated tests that are often found in fragmented healthcare systems.

3. Sustainable practice

When care or treatment is being delivered to patients it is vital that the carbon footprint and wider environmental impacts of are kept to a minimum. This can be achieved by minimising the emissions or resources required to deliver high quality health outcomes, for example, reducing waste associated with procedures, using more sustainable products/materials or reusing equipment where clinically appropriate.

Minimising the environmental impact of care must not compromise the health outcomes or quality of care, so it is important for organisations and healthcare professionals to collect data that can demonstrate both the clinical effectiveness and environmental impacts of practice.

Why is sustainable healthcare important?

Failure to transition to a model of sustainable healthcare will only serve to increase the environmental impact of the healthcare sector. Population growth, unhealthy lifestyles, increases in chronic disease, ageing populations and increased access to healthcare are all expected to drive increases in healthcare demands and resource consumption in the coming decades.

When this is combined with the anticipated healthcare impacts linked to climate change, the need for sustainable transformation becomes clearer and more urgent.

Climate change is rapidly impacting our planet and the environment we rely on, through rising temperatures, extreme weather events such as wildfires, and the intensification of air pollution1
A healthy environment contributes so much to our health and wellbeing – the air that we breathe, the food that we eat, the places we live – that any negative impact on the environment as a result of climate change risks damaging our health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says climate change is the "single biggest health threat facing humanity". According to the WHO the unfolding climate crisis "threatens the essential ingredients of good health and has the potential to undermine decades of progress in global health". It estimates that between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths every year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone.

Find out more about the health impacts on people and who will be most at risk.

Healthcare professionals are some of the most trusted and respected members of society and are perfectly placed to inspire and demand the changes we need for a healthier planet and healthier people.

The health impacts of climate change are already being seen and treated first-hand by healthcare professionals, so it will be unsurprising to hear that many of them care deeply about this matter. A recent survey of 150 doctors and nurses across Europe by Economist Impact reported that nearly 80% wanted to see sustainability as a measurable domain in the quality of care that hospitals deliver. Only 12% of respondents said that they did not have the time or resources to be involved.

Learn more about how healthcare professionals can support sustainability or advocate for action at the intersection of people and planet health.

Healthcare professionals andyour role in climate action

We’ve released a series of short films featuring Bupa clinicians to highlight healthcare’s impact on the planet - and what we can do about it.

Video about the role of healthcare professionals in climate action and healthcare's impact
The role of healthcare professionals in climate action - Health and planet heroes

This was a certified net zero production. This means that throughout the entire filmmaking process, we’ve taken steps to minimise our carbon footprint, and have offset any emissions produced.

Supporting sustainable healthcare

Resources for clinicians and healthcare professionals

Using our clinical expertise, we have developed a series of resources to offer practical guidance on reducing the environmental impact of modern healthcare.

Switching to reusable products

As part of our wider sustainability strategy, one of our ambitions is to identify circular solutions for non-hazardous waste across all our markets. Download our guides listing potential items that can be switched to reusable products and related information on the cleaning of those items.

Date Title File Size File Type
13 Dec 2024 Sustainable products in Care Services 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Sustainable products in Dentistry 1.8MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Sustainable products in Health Clinics 1.1MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Sustainable products in Hospitals 1.8MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Productos sostenibles en Clínicas de Salud 1.1MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Productos sostenibles en hospitales 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Productos sostenibles en Odontología 1.8MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Productos sostenibles en Servicios de Atención 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Produtos sustentáveis em clínicas de saúde 1.1MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Produtos sustentáveis em hospitais 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Produtos sustentáveis em Odontologia 1.8MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Produtos sustentáveis em serviços de cuidados 2MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Zrównoważone produkty w Usługach Opieki 2MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Zrównoważone produkty w Przychodniach Zdrowia 1.2MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Zrównoważone produkty w Stomatologii 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Zrównoważone produkty w Szpitalach 2MB PDF
Date Title File Size File Type
13 Dec 2024 Sustainable products in Care Services 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Sustainable products in Dentistry 1.8MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Sustainable products in Health Clinics 1.1MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Sustainable products in Hospitals 1.8MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Productos sostenibles en Clínicas de Salud 1.1MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Productos sostenibles en hospitales 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Productos sostenibles en Odontología 1.8MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Productos sostenibles en Servicios de Atención 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Produtos sustentáveis em clínicas de saúde 1.1MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Produtos sustentáveis em hospitais 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Produtos sustentáveis em Odontologia 1.8MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Produtos sustentáveis em serviços de cuidados 2MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Zrównoważone produkty w Usługach Opieki 2MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Zrównoważone produkty w Przychodniach Zdrowia 1.2MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Zrównoważone produkty w Stomatologii 1.9MB PDF
13 Dec 2024 Zrównoważone produkty w Szpitalach 2MB PDF

Bupa and Health Care Without Harm: 2024 report

In 2024, we announced a three-year partnership with Health Care Without Harm, a global NGO who share our ambition to reduce the environmental impacts of the health sector and drive the transition to sustainable care. Read our first partnership report, showcasing the progress we’ve made so far through a range of activities focused on collaboration and global events.

Action on single-use items in healthcare

Action on single-use items in healthcare

In this whitepaper, we focus on actionable steps to reduce healthcare’s reliance on products and packaging that we throw away after one use, spotlight organisations making positive progress and showcase solutions that are currently available.