Behaviour change leads to savings for London hospitals

Global Action Plan, GE and Skanska worked together to reduce the Trust's £13m energy spend and make the trust more sustainable.

Working with closely with staff through interviews and focus groups, GAP created a programme of simple actions that everyone in the hospital could take every day. Operation TLC comprises three simple actions:

• turn off equipment when not in use, reducing excessive heat and noise;

• switch off lights to help promote sleep and reduce light pollution; and

• close doors to improve patient safety and privacy, and help regulate room temperatures.

After four months improvements included a 40 per cent increase in lights out, and 18 per cent fewer open doors.

Patients in wards where the pilot took place also reported sleeping better, with 33 per cent fewer incidences of sleep disruption, and 25 per cent fewer privacy disruptions than in non-TLC wards. 

The programme will save the Trust £100,000, achieving payback within one year. 800 tonnes CO2 were avoided through the programme, with 15,000 staff reached.

Trewin Restorick, CEO of Global Action Plan said: “Sometimes getting people to do simple things can be a complex task, especially in the NHS where focus is rightly on patient care and not light bulbs. But this programme demonstrates that with the right expertise and the right combination of techniques, you can run a cost-effective programme that saves energy and adds benefit for patients and staff. Sustainability programmes can contribute to an organisation’s core objectives.”

The Operation TLC pilot ran in two hospitals – St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City and The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel starting in December last year.