{"id":13123,"date":"2025-12-04T11:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T11:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=13123"},"modified":"2025-12-12T09:10:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T09:10:44","slug":"healthcares-carbon-challenge-irelands-path-to-sustainable-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/healthcare-innovations\/healthcares-carbon-challenge-irelands-path-to-sustainable-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare\u2019s carbon challenge: Ireland\u2019s path to sustainable care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box round ab-has-avatar ab-font-size-14 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-avatar-wrap\"><div class=\"ab-profile-image-wrap\"><figure class=\"ab-profile-image-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" class=\"ab-profile-avatar wp-image-13124\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/12\/04112319\/vicky-1764847396-CT-bio.png\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/12\/04112319\/vicky-1764847396-CT-bio.png 600w, https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/12\/04112319\/vicky-1764847396-CT-bio-125x125.png 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Chris Taylor<\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Sustainability Lead UKI, Government &amp; Public Affairs<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Healthcare accounts for approximately 4-5% of global CO\u2082 emissions, and Ireland is no exception. Like health systems worldwide, Ireland needs to balance delivering high-quality care while reducing its environmental footprint.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The HSE Climate Action Strategy 2023-2050 stresses that meaningful progress requires collective action, meaning hospitals, suppliers, clinicians and communities must work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-urgency-of-sustainable-healthcare\"><strong>The urgency of sustainable healthcare<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Reducing emissions is inseparable from improving population health, as climate-driven factors such as heat, air pollution and shifting disease patterns are already influencing clinical demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-innovation-and-transformation\"><strong>Innovation and transformation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Within Ireland, the most carbon-intensive aspects of healthcare are hospital buildings, energy consumption and the broader supply chain. Imaging particularly contributes significantly due to its high-power requirements and complex materials. However, technological innovation is reshaping sustainability in this area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Modern MRI platforms now incorporate helium-efficient systems, represented by sealed-magnet designs like Philips BlueSeal, which use less than 0.5% of the helium previously required. This breakthrough not only reduces dependence on scarce resources but also strengthens the resilience and sustainability of healthcare services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, next-generation CT systems offer workflow efficiencies that can reduce scan setup times by over 50%, lowering energy use per patient and streamlining care pathways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Digital transformation is accelerating these changes. Remote clinical support, virtual training and connected-care pathways are reducing travel for both patients and clinicians, a key contributor to healthcare emissions. This shift aligns with the HSE\u2019s growing emphasis on digital innovation, service redesign and community-centred models of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ireland-s-opportunity\"><strong>Ireland\u2019s opportunity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Sustainability is now central to healthcare planning in Ireland. The country has a unique opportunity to lead by adopting circular-economy principles, investing in longer-life equipment, ensuring transparent reporting and developing low-carbon digital pathways. Through collaboration across the Irish health ecosystem, Ireland can build a cleaner, more resilient system that\u2019s better prepared for climate risks and supports healthier people and a healthier planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-partnering-for-a-sustainable-future\"><strong>Partnering for a sustainable future<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Philips is proud to support Ireland\u2019s healthcare system in its journey toward a low-carbon future. From helium-free MRI technology like BlueSeal to energy-efficient CT platforms and digital solutions that reduce travel emissions, Philips delivers innovations that make healthcare greener, smarter and more resilient.<\/p>\n\n\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><div style=\"text-align:center\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-button ab-block-button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/eng9e.seismic.com\/ls\/0d60498a-feac-4bf6-a6b6-65f37dc4b885\/UXc_cmJY_wkR-4pA#\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"ab-button ab-button-shape-rounded ab-button-size-medium fb-pixel\" style=\"color:#ffffff;background-color:#000000\">Click here to learn more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Healthcare accounts for approximately 4-5% of global CO\u2082 emissions, and Ireland is no exception. Like health systems worldwide, Ireland needs to balance delivering high-quality care while reducing its environmental footprint. The HSE Climate Action Strategy 2023-2050 stresses that meaningful progress requires collective action, meaning hospitals, suppliers, clinicians and communities must work together. The urgency of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/healthcare-innovations\/healthcares-carbon-challenge-irelands-path-to-sustainable-care\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":13126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5973],"tags":[5995],"class_list":["post-13123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare-innovations","tag-healthcare-innovations"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/12\/04113815\/vicky-1764848294-GettyImages-2077705508-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/12\/04113815\/vicky-1764848294-GettyImages-2077705508-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Mica Robertson","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/micarobertson\/"},"vicky_category_order":[{"category_id":5973,"order":"6"}],"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13127,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13123\/revisions\/13127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}