A Tool for Building Resilience to Climate Change into Health Care Systems
Date of the resource
December 2023
Author of the resource
SWM, in collaboration with the Environment Agency
Purpose of the resource
The most recent UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, published in 2021, gave us a stark warning about the impact climate change is likely to have on our health, and the knock on potential consequences on our NHS. The Service is already facing massive pressure and an increase in heatwaves, flooding, water scarcity and pests and diseases as a result of climate change will only lead to an exacerbation of this. There is also an issue as to whether Trust’s building stock will be able to cope with temperature increases and a more erratic flood risk, further enhancing the problem.
Despite this, there is little evidence of activity taking place on a nationwide scale to help and support NHS Trusts, Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to adapt to climate change. The third iteration of the National Adaptation Programme, published in July 2023, includes actions that focus on adapting the NHS, but we feel that this is not being considered on an urgent enough scale, or being mindful of the fact that most Trusts do not have the resources, capacity or knowledge to consider adaptation.
This is why we have collaborated with our local Environment Agency team to produce a suite of resources to start Trusts on their adaptation journey, by developing a toolkit that takes them through a step by step process to enable effective adaptation in their Trust, ICB or ICS.
This series of resources, collectively known as ‘Adapt to Survive,’ provides:
- An Excel-based toolkit to take Trusts through a process to produce an adaptation plan, including how to assess risks, identify impacts and adaptation solutions.
- A guidance document taking users through the above tool and providing further guidance and resources, and how adaptation links with existing NHS healthcare and emergency planning priorities.
- A video tutorial explaining how to use the toolkit.
- A compendium of case studies showing what adaptation good practice looks like in NHS Trusts, in order to catalyse action in other Trusts.
- An event, ran in September 2023, that brought together nearly 80 individuals from Trusts, ICSs and ICBs from the across the UK to learn more about climate change adaptation.
Video presentation & walkthrough
Downloads
Adapt to Survive: Worksheet Guidance Document and Resources (pdf)
Adapt to Survive: Worksheet Video Tutorials (via YouTube, see below)
Adapt to Survive: Practical Examples for NHS Trusts and Other Healthcare Providers (pdf)
Adapt to Survive: Adapting the NHS to Climate Change Online Event Resources (html)
Further Support
A simple Adaptation Plan Template was produced by SWM as part of a project in partnership with Sniffer, NHSE North West, NHSE North East and Yorkshire, and NHS Greater Manchester. You can download this template here as a word document to use as a working document to produce your own written report version of a climate change risk assessment and adaptation plan. The rest of the resources can be found in the links below:
- A Climate Adaptation Framework for NHS Organisations and a second document containing further guidance to supplement this framework.
- A guide on how to include adaptation in your Green Plan
- A recording of the webinar where we shared all these resources, reflections on the project and potential next steps
More information on this project as a whole will be made publicly available in August 2024. Get in touch if you would like to know more now.
SWM is leading the way on supporting organisations with their climate change adaptation work. Get in touch with us if you would like more information.
