NHS Scotland climate emergency and sustainability strategy: 2022-2026

Annex B – Data

1. This section sets out data which is currently available at a national level for NHS Scotland and highlights areas where there is currently a lack of robust data.

Building emissions

2. NHS Scotland has comprehensive data for its energy use for heating and power which is collected through a national reporting system. NHS Scotland's emissions from heating and electricity reduced by 4.4% between 2019/20 and 2020/21. Those emissions from territorial Health Boards have fallen by 64% between 2020/21 and the baseline year of 1989/90.

NHS Scotland energy use 2019-20 to 2020-21

3. The following table sets out the changes in buildings energy use and associated emissions from 2019/20 to 2020/21.

Change in territorial Health Board emissions since 1990

4. The following table sets out the change in emissions for NHS Scotland's territorial Health Boards since 1990 – the year against which statutory emissions reductions targets are measured. The eight special Health Boards are not included due to a lack of robust data for 1990. For example, the State Hospital did not form part of the NHS at that point and the Golden Jubilee Hospital had not yet been built. The 14 territorial health boards were responsible for 95.9% of NHS Scotland's overall reported energy use in 2020/21.

Travel to main hospital sites

5. Data gathered by individual NHS Boards suggest that current rates of travel to main hospital sites by staff, patients and visitors are approximately: 

• Active travel: 2.8% of journeys 
• Public Transport: 7.4% of journeys 
• Car use: 89.2% of journeys. 

6. However, as noted in the section on sustainable travel, surveys of this nature are infrequent and we will undertake work to improve the reliability of this data. To address this, we will carry out annual travel surveys at each of our sites to monitor shifts in modes of transport in travel to and from NHS sites.

Fleet

Data from National Fleet Management System (except Ayrshire and Arran and Scottish Ambulance Service)

Business travel

7. We do not currently have reliable national data for NHS business travel and we will work to improve this as part of the implementation of this strategy.

Waste data

8. We recognise that there are gaps in our waste data and are working to improve the quality of it. The following data is drawn from the statutory annual climate change reports of the nineteen Health Boards which are required to submit reports and is therefore incomplete.

Medical gases

9. The following tables sets out data on medical gas usage by NHS Scotland in 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. The emissions from gases all decreased in 2020/21, most likely as a result of the disruption to elective surgery procedures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the decrease in the use of desflurane between 2018/19 and 2019/20 is consistent with reports of individual hospitals choosing to use other methods of anaesthesia.

Inhalers

10. The table below sets out information on the number of MDIs and DPIs prescribed by GP practices and dispensed in Scotland in 2019/20 and 2020/21. The number of items refers to the number of prescribing instances - the opportunities a prescriber has had to choose the type of inhaler they wish to prescribe. The number of packs refers to the number of inhalers or packs of capsules for inhalation dispensed.

11. The table below sets out the estimated emissions from the propellant in MDIs prescribed and dispensed in Scotland between 2018/19 and 2020/21. This has been calculated using the assumption in the UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions inventory^[78] of MDIs containing an average of 12g of propellant per inhaler.

12. There are currently two types of propellants used in MDIs: HFA-134a and HFA-227ea.