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Nurses get Dragons’ Den-style contest for sustainability schemes

Competition to take place at NHS England and Royal College of Nursing’s Sustainability Nursing Conference in October, with £1,600 to develop the winning idea

Competition to take place at NHS England and Royal College of Nursing’s Sustainability Nursing Conference in October, with £1,600 to develop the winning idea

A nurse gives a presentation on sustainability in front of a flip chart
Picture: iStock

Are you a nurse with something to say about sustainability and have an idea of how you can make health and care more environmentally friendly? Then there is a Dragons’ Den-style competition just for you.

Not only does the competition offer a chance to showcase your work, but you could also win £1,600 towards developing your project.

A showcase for innovation in sustainability and nursing

The inaugural NHS England and Royal College of Nursing’s Sustainability Nursing Conference will be held in October.

It will showcase nursing-led innovations ‘that have a positive environmental impact on health and care service delivery, and patient care’.

The panel of ‘Dragons’ will include RCN Foundation director Deepa Korea, founder of Nursem Antonia Philip, and Rachel Hollis, of the RCN professional nursing committee. A judge from the NHS clinical entrepreneur programme will also be on the panel.

The winner will get £1,600 to put towards further developing their sustainability project, while the runner up will get a coaching session with a ‘sustainability expert’ and nurse.

How nurses can contribute to tackling climate change

Nursing sustainability lead at the RCN Rose Gallagher said: ‘Nursing staff have already demonstrated how they can contribute to sustainability in areas such as reducing the use of consumables such as gloves.

‘There is much more that can be done and even by making just one change we know that staff make their own contribution to reduce the impact of their work on the environment.’

Ms Gallagher said the panel was keen to hear from nurses looking to innovate as well as inspire others to help tackle the climate emergency.

‘We are encouraging all those planning or undertaking innovations delivering reduction in carbon emissions and improvement to patient care to submit their experience to the conference,’ she added.

Book a place at sustainability conference

The first British Isles nursing and midwifery collaborative conference on sustainability, jointly organised by the RCN and NHS England, aims to raise awareness of the impact of care provision on greenhouse gas emissions and ‘explore the opportunities this challenge presents to improve health and care services’.

The conference and competition are free and open to anyone working in nursing or midwifery in all settings.

To book, go to the RCN events online booking page or call 0207 647 3577.


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