Nordic Conference on Sustainable Healthcare 2017

08.00 Registration. Opening of the exhibition.

Coffee and sandwiches are served.

Themed breakfast and meet-and-greet

08.15 – 09.00 Visit the exhibition or participate in the themed breakfast

The Nordic Conference on Sustainable Healthcare is an opportunity for organisations and stakeholders to organise their own breakfast seminars. Start the day off by visit the exhibition area or attend one of the breakfast seminars (to be updated). Coffee and sandwiches will be served.

09.15 – 09.25 Welcome

Current status

09.25 – 09.45 Why the Nordic region is progressive

In international comparison, healthcare in the Nordic countries is extremely successful in managing negative environmental and social effects. In the session, leading decision-makers and experts will take us through a discussion on operation and strategy, looking for answers for improvements and meeting future challenges.

Study

09.45 – 10.00 Environmental and sustainability priorities for major Nordic-region hospitals

A new and unique survey of the leading hospitals in the region reveals their challenges, priorities and investments in environmental and sustainability work. Environmental and sustainability managers describe their organisational roles and their abilities to influence strategic decision-making.

• Nordic Center on Sustainable Healthcare

Management

10.00 – 10.30 Altering focus and changing direction – experiences from Nordic-region hospitals

It is difficult to manage a large and complex organisation when faced with stringent climate goals, tighter restrictions on chemicals and finding the relevant questions for procurement and follow-up. The survey serves as the basis for a discussion on how a hospital best can manage these issues. At what level should decisions be made? Whose responsibility is it when the sustainability process slows down?

Coffee break

10.30 – 11.00 coffee, networking, chance to visit the exhibition

In Depth

11.00 – 12.15 Choose one of five parallel sessions:

A:1 Ranking: Current status on environmental and sustainability work in Swedish county councils

In collaboration, the publications Dagens Medicin and Aktuell Hållbarhet rate Swedish county councils. The Nordic Conference on Sustainable Healthcare premieres their findings. The best-performing county councils and regions are on hand to share their strategies, lessons-learned, and successful projects in areas such as energy efficiency, waste treatment, chemicals and transport.

A:2 Procurement as a tool and guideline

Sustainability is increasingly important in health and healthcare procurements. In Sweden, companies can join a number of regional procurement processes, while Norway is moving towards a national procurement system. This session gives insight into the differences in Nordic-region procurement processes – plus, how to prioritize and weight sustainability in procurement documentation in Norway, Sweden and Finland respectively.

A:3 European initiatives for sustainable development (in English)

The Nordic Conference on Sustainable Healthcare looks further abroad. In this session, the speakers refer to tangible gains and strategies for sustainability in health and healthcare outside the Nordic region. They also comment on Nordic-region developments from their individual perspectives.

A:4 NCSH presents companies with innovations and solutions for sustainable healthcare (in English)

The Nordic Center for Sustainable Healthcare (NCSH) is a membership organisation that in little more than a year has grouped about 50 actors in sustainable healthcare. In this session, member companies present the sustainable solutions they are offering the market. (Keep checking the programme as more actors are added.)

A:5 The sustainable strategy: Linking efficient operations with low footprint to healthy finances.
Hosted by: Schneider Electric

This session discusses the need for innovation, collaboration and co-creation to optimize processes without sacrificing patient care standards. It also suggests how new models of care and wider technology adoption can be used to achieve maximum sustainability for smart, productive and profitable healthcare facilities.

Lunch

12.15 – 13.15 Lunch, networking, chance to visit the exhibition

In Depth

13.15 – 14.30 Choose one of five parallel sessions

B:1 Making the entire pharmaceutical chain sustainable

With issues such as social sustainability in the supplier chain, antimicrobial resistance, and pharmaceutical waste, the pharmaceutical industry and its distributors face considerable environmental and sustainability challenges. One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies describes how increased focus on these issues impacts marketing, research and development. A pharmacy company from Sweden describes the fierce competition sparked by deregulation and the status on sustainability issues when profit margins are squeezed. Plus, a presentation of a unique method for preventing pharmaceutical waste from entering sensitive water environments.

B:2 Sustainable business with healthcare in the Nordic region

Healthcare in all Nordic countries is largely publicly financed and managed, but is organised along varying principles. Despite this, the region is highly advanced in international comparison. This session discusses the different countries’ sustainability strategies with the aim of cross fertilisation.

B:3 Circular economy as a tool in healthcare

Healthcare’s immense material flow and high usage of disposable materials are often criticised. At the same time, there are special and high demands for safety and hygiene. Can healthcare eliminate a linear flow and still guarantee patient safety and proper care? This session goes through the arguments and points to examples of circular solutions that work in the hospital environment for technical equipment as well as mundane items such as tables and chairs.

B:4 Projects that push the envelope (in English)

Constant incremental improvements are not always enough – sometimes a paradigm shift is necessary. The session highlights projects in the Nordic region that represent real progress: a new hospital, a strategy for comprehensive energy-efficient renovations of existing building stock, and much more to inspire new thinking.

B:5 Session available for partners

Coffee break

14.30 – 15.15 coffee, networking, chance to visit the exhibition

Awards Ceremony

15.15 – 15.30 Nordic Conference on Sustainable Healthcare Awards

In collaboration with (Companies A, B, C), the Nordic Center on Sustainable Healthcare awards its inaugural prizes to three outstanding actors:

Discussion

15.30 – 16.00 The healthcare dilemma – sustainability cannot come first

Unique for healthcare is its priorities: to save lives, cure and care. On top of that comes everything else. A panel of experts reflects on the special conditions imposed on an operation that exists primarily to save lives. Is there even room for a sustainability discussion?

Inspiration

16.00 -16.30 After Paris – Shaping the Post-Carbon Paradigm

The Paris agreement was heralded by many as a triumph of international diplomacy. But it could very well be that the Agreement has sown the seeds of its own demise. With a focus on energy, this presentation will outline the successes and failures of the Paris process. It will conclude by arguing that climate change has now transformed into an issue of profound and rapid “system change”. Only when we concede this, will we be equipped to begin shaping our post-carbon paradigm.

Conclusion

16.30 – 16.45 The moderators summarise the conference

16.45 – 18.00 Meet-and-greet with refreshments