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Funding for eco hospitals
21/10/2012
Funding of £24 million is being invested in making NHS hospitals and facilities more energy efficient.
NHS boards across Scotland are benefiting from the sum, which will be invested in various energy saving schemes over the next three years.
The projects are expected to reduce greenhouse gases across NHS Scotland by around 10 per cent, and will save around £4 million in energy costs each year.
This money will be directly reinvested in providing frontline patient care.
Funding for NHS Scotland’s Carbon Reduction Programme aims to reduce carbon emissions and make hospitals and healthcare facilities more eco friendly.
Announcing the funding boost, Health Secretary Alex Neil said: “This money will play a key role in helping to make the NHS more energy efficient, and in reducing our carbon footprint.
“Going green will enable NHS boards to reduce costs, and help to ensure we have an NHS which is fit for the future.
“The £4 million that will be saved each year through this scheme will be reinvested directly into frontline patient care, ensuring patients across Scotland continue to receive the best possible care and treatment.”
Mr Neil also revealed that NHS boards across Scotland delivered efficiency savings of £319 million in 2011/12, exceeding the target of £317 million.
Grants will be awarded to schemes that can demonstrate that they will substantially reduce carbon emissions.
Projects which have already been given funding include: the installation of a biomass boiler at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, converting the heating system at Gartnavel Royal Hospital from oil to gas and the installation of wind turbines to support remote health centres in the Shetland Islands.