A conversation with the Bolmstedt Innovation Award winners
This June, the KABEG LKH Villach hospital in Austria was awarded with the Bolmstedt Innovation Award at the 2024 European Sustainable Healthcare Awards for their project Climate Awareness: the hospital as a promotor towards patients and staff. The Bolmstedt Innovation Award, named after Anders Bolmstedt, Chair of HCWH Europe’s Board of Directors, recognises a sustainability project in Europe that demonstrates cutting-edge innovation. This project accelerates the change necessary to build a healthcare sector that is better for the planet and people alike.
At the award ceremony in Brussels, we sat down with Alexander Thomasser, Head of the Administration & Service Department, and Simon Wurzer, Head of Nursing for several departments at the LKH Villach. Both are members of the hospital’s Green Team, and shared with us about the project’s many elements and its potential to revolutionise healthcare sustainability.
A real-world laboratory for sustainable healthcare
At the heart of their innovation is the concept of a "real-world laboratory." Alexander explains, "We come in contact with over 100,000 people a year, providing a great opportunity to spread information on climate change and adaptation. We've built a green ward where you can experience what a climate-friendly hospital is like, examining processes, infrastructure, and how patients, staff, and students can contribute."
This Green Ward serves as a testing ground for sustainable technologies and practices. Simon elaborates, "We want to reduce the carbon footprint. We've defined the interdisciplinary day clinic as a ‘green pilot ward’ to set a good example and prove which measures are possible, with the aim of extending these to other departments and regional hospitals."
The power of interdisciplinary collaboration
The project's success is largely due to the interdisciplinary Green Team, founded in 2021. This team consists of employees from medical, nursing, and administrative fields, alongside environmental experts. The Green Team's approach is based on individual responsibility, with members managing 12 thematic areas covering all sustainability priorities in the hospital. Those areas include climate-sensitive occupational therapy, climate resilience processes, patients, mobility, food services, waste management and hygiene, and more. Monthly meetings ensure alignment of actions in the Team towards a common goal, with the concept endorsed by both hospital management and the KABEG board.
Because of this approach, work extends far beyond the Green Ward, and takes the form of diverse initiatives implemented around the hospital. One of their most successful initiatives has been tackling food waste. "In 2017, we reduced food waste by 30% simply by renaming portion sizes, and ensuring staff knows how to order correctly," Alexander shared. "This was a defining moment where we saw that with simple measures, you can make significant changes without investing a lot of money."
This success highlighted an important realisation for the team: that sustainability does not necessarily contradict the need to prioritise the budget. Rather, the two can often go together - and the success of sustainability measures primarily depends on the commitment and involvement of all employees and leadership.
Reducing emissions and leading by example
The hospital has been able to reduce Scope 2 emissions by about 80%, and is on the path to greatly reducing their Scope 1 emissions as well, through recycling volatile anesthetics - the first hospital in Austria to do so.
LKH Villach's approach also reaches into the surrounding community, a goal for them. Alexander shares, "We're very involved in planning Villach's climate and health district. We're exploring how to benefit from energy from the nearby brewery and how to share resources. It's an integrated city district concept with citizen involvement."
Their efforts also include engaging suppliers. Simon recounts, "In our day clinic, shoes came packaged in plastic but were made of cotton. After discussions, the supplier changed to paper wrapping. We're not afraid to ask and advocate outside our internal organisation."
Strength in numbers and facing shared challenges
The KABEG LKH Villach team emphasises the importance of networking and collaboration to build critical mass. Members of Global Green and Healthy Hospitals since 2022, they also co-founded the Austrian Green Hospitals Association that year and are now in talks with Swiss and German hospitals to create a German-speaking coalition. "The more we are, the better. We need to create a movement to make suppliers listen," says Alexander.
When asked about challenges, Simon notes, "Hygiene and patient safety are often seen as limiting factors, but they're not the enemy of sustainability. Solutions are possible. People have to be tenacious – the first 'no' is not the end of the story."
Their advice for others, aside from cultivating tenacity? "Don't be a lone wolf," Simon suggests. "If you're the first one in the organisation [interested in sustainability], find someone else and work together."
Hospitals as promoters of climate awareness
The team firmly believes that hospitals are not only part of the problem but can also act as promoters of climate awareness toward staff and patients, fulfilling their ethical responsibility to protect and uphold health in a holistic way. They recognise that sustainable changes can only occur with awareness among patients, staff, and suppliers. Therefore, they've set the goal of becoming a model for the climate-resilient hospital of the future through pilot initiatives and effective networking. Their target audience extends beyond patients and staff to include other hospitals and educational institutions.
Looking to the future, the team is committed to sharing their experiences and learning from others. "Everything we do is about creating an ecosystem of sustainable healthcare," Alexander concludes.
A beacon of sustainable healthcare
For HCWH Europe, the comprehensive project underway KABEG LKH Villach serves as an inspiring example of how healthcare facilities are leading the charge in sustainability. By combining innovative thinking, collaboration, and a willingness to challenge the status quo, they're paving the way for a greener, healthier future in healthcare and in society.
To follow their progress, visit their website (in German)
The awards are sponsored by Philips, a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment, and home care.
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