Tooting: St George's Hospital employee to feature in COP26 climate change conference

A healthcare assistant from St George's will be featuring at a COP26 exhibition on sustainability in the NHS.

Marsha Lord is one of just nine NHS workers appearing in a photographic exhibition at the climate change conference.

St George's Hospital was the first in England to introduce a carbon neutral menu for its patients and aims to be carbon neutral by 2040.

Its menu has already cut 23 tonnes of carbon - the equivalent of planting 30 acres of forests.

The exhibition, entitled "Care for the future: delivering the world's first net zero health service", celebrates the NHS staff who are supporting the transformation to greener healthcare. It will be on display in the Blue Zone of the COP26 venue in Glasgow.

Marsha said: "It was great to take part in such an important project, and to learn that my photo will be on display at an international conference attended by world leaders.

"For me, taking small steps such as recycling on the wards is so easy to do and if it helps to protect the planet, then it makes sense for us and for our patients."

St George's has introduced a number of programmes to try and reduce carbon emissions.

Apart from the carbon neutral patient menu, there has been a scheme to reduce emission fro anaesthetic gasses, more recycling for surgical instruments and a combined heat and power plant which provides excess renewable energy back to the National Grid.

Jacqueline Totterdell, Group Chief Executive, said: "Even in the peak of the pandemic and while caring for record numbers of patients, staff at St George's were taking steps to lower carbon emissions because they also care for our planet.

"We are all so proud to see Marsha representing St George's at COP26 – our staff provide outstanding care to patients every day, so it is no surprise that people like Marsha also care deeply about meeting the challenge of the climate emergency."

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