Our Roadmap to 2030Lead Organisation
In partnership with Verture
Project Delivery team: Morgan Roberts (Project Manager, SWM) and Ellie Murtagh and Jonny Casey (Verture)
Overview
Climate change has serious consequences for both public health and effective delivery of healthcare. The risks and potential consequences are recognised in the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (UKCCRA3), summarised in the health and social care briefing produced in 2021 (part of a broader project led by SWM to improve the accessibility of the UKCCRA).
Understanding, anticipating, and adapting to these new challenges is essential to developing a more climate-resilient NHS. In recognition of this, SWM, alongside Verture, NHSE North West, NHSE North East & Yorkshire, and NHS Greater Manchester (GM) developed multiple resources and two training courses to help build the capability to deliver adaptation within the NHS. See Phase 1 of this project for more on the development of these resources.
Phase 2 of this project in the first half of 2025 has consisted of delivering further sessions of the two training courses and refining and updating their content.
Outputs
SWM and Verture together delivered:
- Four sessions of the full day Becoming Climate Resilient Training from January to March 2025 to a total of 41 participants from more than ten NHS Trusts and organisations across the north of England.
- Five sessions of the one-hour Empowering Leaders Training from January to March 2025 to over 100 senior leaders from tens of NHS organisations across England. A further five sessions are to be delivered from April to June.
- Initial feedback said the sessions were well run, engaging, and that the facilitators were knowledgeable, experienced, and approachable. Constructive feedback mostly circulated around helping facilitate learnings to be taken away from the session effectively, for example through providing the slide pack ahead of time and making the meeting chat available after the session. Links shared in the chat, along with the presentation slides, were shared with participants after the fact.
Testimonials
“The facilitators were excellent and very knowledgeable while also keeping the session engaging”
“Session was well run and the facilitators were very knowledgeable, experienced and approachable”
“Delivery over MS Teams can be difficult especially when using breakout rooms, but overall I thought the session ran well and I came away with a lot more knowledge and food for thought on how I can influence my area of work.”
More information about the two training courses
This project was funded by NHSE North West and NHSE North East and Yorkshire, but these training sessions are available as standalone sessions at a fee to any NHS Organisation in England. Contact Morgan at SWM and Jonny at Verture for more information, or if you work in health and healthcare outside the NHS in England and would like to discuss whether these sessions are appropriate for your setting.
See more on all of SWM’s adaptation support on our consultancy page
Becoming Climate Resilient Training
Who: Any NHS colleagues interested in learning more about climate change, its impacts on the NHS, and how adaptation can help prepare for and minimise these impacts. For staff in any area of the NHS, including EPRR, Estates and Facilities, Clinical, Pharmacy, and Community and Mental Health. These sessions are usually in groups of 10 to 14 participants.
Where: Online via MS Teams
When: 10:00 to 14:30 (4.5 hours)
What: Be introduced to key concepts around climate impacts, risk and vulnerability. Learn how understanding, anticipating and adapting to these challenges is essential to developing a more resilient NHS. Explore existing tools and resources available to support you to plan and deliver effective adaptation, alongside the rest of your priorities and objectives, to ultimately provide excellent healthcare services to those who need it.
This training includes a mixture of presentations and interactive activities, encouraging open and honest discussion and peer-to-peer learning, with ample time for rest and reflection throughout!
No prior knowledge is needed – just bring your interest in learning how to prepare the NHS for the challenges of a changing climate.
From the invitation sent out for the Becoming Climate Resilient Training sessions.
The Becoming Climate Resilient training was originally based on existing training from Verture for the public sector in Scotland and has been adapted by SWM and Verture to an NHS and England context.
Empowering Leaders Training
Who: Senior leaders, managers, and decision-makers in NHS organisations in England. For staff in any area of the NHS, including EPRR, Estates and Facilities, Clinical, Pharmacy, and Community and Mental Health. These sessions can be for up to 50 attendees.
Where: Online via MS Teams
When: 1 hour
What: Be introduced to key concepts around climate impacts, risk and vulnerability and how they relate to your role. Learn about five factors that help build the ‘case for adaptation’, including a focus on policy and regulation. Take away an understanding of the role you can have as decision-makers and leaders in driving adaptation planning and delivery forwards in the NHS, and some of the tools available to do so.
It was recognised that senior leaders need both different information and a different approach to engagement than other NHS staff. Therefore, this session is just one hour and in a webinar format, although still keeping some of the active engagement from the BCR training and encouraging open and honest discussion and peer-to-peer learning.
For busy NHS leaders and managers in England, this one-hour webinar provides a concise overview of climate resilience and adaptation. No prior knowledge is needed, just bring your interest in learning how to prepare the NHS for the challenges of a changing climate.
From the invitation sent out for the Empowering Leaders Training sessions.
