Contact: Maï Shafei

HCWH Europe is coordinating a new project: Greening the Brussels healthcare sector - a collaboration between our Circular Healthcare and Climate-smart Healthcare programmes. The project is divided into two pillars:

• Build knowledge and capacity amongst healthcare workers on topics such as climate change, circular economy, and sustainable food.
• Work with six pilot hospitals to support them in developing sustainability action plans.

Knowledge and capacity building

An essential step in reducing the environmental and climate impact of the Brussels health sector is the knowledge and capacity of healthcare professionals and hospital staff. HCWH Europe will develop a training program centred on our project experience working with health systems and establishments around Europe. This will cater to an array of hospital staff members and will be available in both French and Dutch. 

The modules aimed at non-medical hospital staff, i.e. sustainability managers and purchasing managers, will include in-person training on circular economy that covers reducing single-use plastics, toxic materials in medical devices, GHG emissions and food waste in healthcare facilities.

An online training session offered to hospital medical staff (nurses and doctors) will focus on the topic of the circular economy. The aim of this module will be to increase medical staff awareness of the environmental and public health problems linked to the use of plastic, the role of the healthcare professionals in educating patients on these themes, and the actions they can take within their establishments to bring about change.

Pilot actions

The second pillar of the project will involve more tailored work with six pilot hospitals in the Brussels region to support them in planning actions that reduce the environmental and climate footprint of their facilities and operations.

HCWH Europe will support these hospitals to create sustainability action teams, develop baseline sustainability assessments, and implement a hospital sustainability action plan. This work will include two technical workshops to discuss data collection and analysis and a third to co-develop sustainability objectives and targets.

The HCWH Europe team will call upon their experience of circular healthcare, carbon management, and waste reduction to support the pilot hospitals participating in the project.

Pilot hospitals

 Centre Hospitalier Interrégional Edith Cavell (CHIREC)

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Brugmann (CHU Brugmann)

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Saint-Pierre (CHU Saint-Pierre)

Cliniques de l'Europe

Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc

Hôpital universitaire de Bruxelles (HUB) 

HCWH Europe gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Commission Communautaire Commune (COCOM). HCWH Europe is solely responsible for the content of this project and related materials. The views expressed do not reflect the official views of the COCOM.