Coventry and Warwickshire ICB’s latest green plan has been published, listing ten digital transformation objectives and a timeline for their delivery to 2028.
“Within the Coventry and Warwickshire ICS, digital technologies are being harnessed to reduce emissions, improve care delivery, and enhance system resilience,” the ICB states. “From virtual consultations and digital letters to energy-efficient infrastructure and cloud-first strategies, digital innovation is helping to decarbonise healthcare while improving access and efficiency.”
By January 2026, all new digital supplier contracts will include sustainability criteria, requiring carbon reporting and alignment with NHS Net Zero targets; whilst by March 2026, 100 percent of trusts will have completed a Digital Maturity Assessment, focusing on identifying sustainability improvements. The ICB also hopes to explore the implementation of a “PC power down” pilot scheme by October 2026.
December 2026 is the deadline given for exploring the potential to migrate NHS-hosted digital services to more environmentally friendly options, with Coventry and Warwickshire’s board looking to audit existing digital hosting providers and consider opportunities for low-carbon cloud services or green datacentres. The same deadline is offered for a reduction in paper usage by promoting digital approaches, virtual consultations, digital letters, and use of the NHS App. High paper-use processes will be identified, and digitised where clinically safe, the ICB continues.
Work toward a sustainable approach to reusing, recycling, and disposing of IT equipment will continue with a deadline of January 2027, with the ICB to complete actions including establishing a recycling protocol and promoting the reuse of functional equipment to extend device lifecycles. By March of the same year, the ICB states that all digital teams will “explore good data hygiene practices” to reduce storage emissions, with staff to be trained on sustainable data management.
All new IT equipment purchased will be checked for its “green” value and energy efficiency by July 2027, with the board to define sustainability requirements, as well as update procurement policies and tender documentation to require compliance with the NHS Net Zero Supplier Roadmap and ISO20400.
The final deadlines, given as March 2028, are for staff training to be increased around sustainable digital practises, and for all trusts to have rolled out EPR systems. On the latter, the ICB points to needed activities covering the exploration of IT infrastructure readiness, the procurement of a cloud-based EPR system, and the preparation of a cloud migration strategy. Workforce training and change management work will be required, it continues, along with checks to ensure all EPR systems are compatible with each other.
Wider trend: Digital transformation to support the green agenda
For a recent HTN panel discussion, we explored how organisations are tackling the challenges of paper and digital records, with the help of expert panellists including Stacey Sutherland, clinical digital documentation lead and change lead for trust-wide division at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) and Chesterfield Royal Hospital; Caroline Holmes, deputy director of patient data and records, digital services, at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSE); Stefan Chetty, director of digital services at Restore Information Management; and Andrew Robertshaw, implementation manager at Restore Information Management.
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership’s latest green plan, highlighted in the trust’s July board meeting, has focused on digital progress and upcoming priorities including cyber security, digital inclusion, virtual pathways and cloud. Looking ahead, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership commits to continuing to utilise the benefits of digital to reduce emissions and improve patient care, using virtual pathways “where appropriate”, considering opportunities to embed sustainability in digital services informed by the Digital Maturity Assessment, and trialling and deploying a power-down software to automatically turn off computer hardware when idle.
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) has shared insights into digital progress and priorities, outlining risks associated with digital systems sustainability, and the latest updates on plans for a single EPR. In terms of progress, NCA reports achieving 100 percent coverage for acute WiFi, and enhancing mobile ways of working. An application roadmap is being developed to consolidate the number of applications currently in use at the trust, and work is ongoing to similarly consolidate digital infrastructure, with a focus on cloud-first and implementing digital disaster recovery.
