UK Department of Health Working for a Greener Future

The Department of Health (DH) sets the standard for patient care and regulated health in the UK. One of their primary objectives is to ensure that the NHS and Social Care services provide a reliable and quality service to over 60 million UK residents.

In order to meet government-mandated targets, the DH must be "carbon neutral" in their use of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) by 2012, and was required to publish a Green ICT Action Plan.

Achieving carbon neutrality

The primary challenge that the DH and CSC faced was to develop a comprehensive Green ICT Action Plan that could achieve carbon neutrality for the business without turning off the whole IS/IT Estate.

The second challenge was how to maintain the ‘excellent’ SOGE rating the Department had already been awarded. The DH has been recognised for progress in the reduction of carbon emissions from four key sites, and for innovative use of renewable energy sources. CSC worked closely with the DH to address these challenges.

Cutting costs and carbon emissions

Peter Baker, head of IS Service Delivery for the DH comments, “CSC quickly established a good relationship and rapport with our staff, were responsive to our needs and were able to respond authoritatively and quickly to our questions.”

The Green ICT Action Plan delivered a portfolio of over 30 carbon reduction initiatives to achieve a 40% reduction in carbon emissions from ‘in use’ ICT, and potential to reduce this by a further 20%. In addition to helping the Department meet its environmental targets, the initiatives recommended by CSC could deliver an estimated cost saving of approximately £500,000 by the end of 2011. This would be achieved through reductions in energy consumption, hardware purchase and carbon offsetting expenditures.

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