Raising patient awareness: We are getting members of the public to jump on a rower and bike machine in the entrance of our new Royal London Hospital to see how much energy it takes to power up an iPod for the day of action on sustainability. Hope the volunteers ate a good breakfast this morning! — Barts and the London NHS trust
Alice the Harris Hawk: Alice is a majestic bird with a wingspan of more than a metre. She's our secret weapon in the fight against pigeons as we were keen not to use harmful pesticides and chemicals. Patients love to see her in flight, and children on the Starlight ward look out for her. She's become a really important member of the UHSM team – Paul Featherstone, director of estates, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS foundation trust
Good work down the drain: Our food digesters use a bio-enzymatic formula to break food down into grey water, which then passes harmlessly through the system's filter and into the drainage system. This is much better for the environment than throwing food away, and will save us nearly £100,000 in water and electricity costs over the next five years — David Moss, deputy director of estates, Tameside and Glossop PCT
Food sourcing: All of our meat, milk and seasonal vegetables come from local farms within the East Midlands, reducing the carbon footprint of every meal we produce for our patients. We've also done this at no extra cost to the hospital — Nottingham Hospitals
Video conferencing: At NHS Medway video conferencing is just one of ways that the trust is reducing emissions. To celebrate NHS Sustainability Day of Action we have launched a video about how NHS Kent and Medway is helping to create a green and sustainable healthcare system. – NHS Medway
Savings can be made with water too: A tap dripping 2 drops of water per second would waste £7.50 per year. A 2mm drip stream costs £115 per year, and a 5mm drip stream costs £415 per year. Don't flush toilets unnecessarily, a single flush can use nine litres of water, and when boiling a kettle only fill with the amount of water needed – Martin Aizlewood, estates officer, energy and special Projects, Rotherham NHS foundation trust
Staff challenges: We can measure our electricity usage hour by hour. So we've set up an energy challenge for our staff. We've heavily promoted how they can help, with five simple top tips and encouraged engagement with a little competitive spirit – Barnsley Hospital
Loving cycling: The sustainability team has recently relaunched an "I Heart Cycling" free bike loan scheme with folding bicycles for staff to try cycling as part of their commute. We will soon launch an "I Heart Walking" pedometer loan scheme to encourage 2,012 staff to become more active in the runup to the Olympics – Rebecca Hall, sustainability co-ordinator, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Cake incentives: I work for a five-partner GP practice in Brighton. To mark sustainability day we permanently swapped to a green energy supplier, asked staff to come to work without using a car (with the incentive of homemade carrot cake for those that did!) and planted a plum tree which we registered with NHS forests — Comment from Mungomorris
Large-scale campaigns: We have an ongoing ecosmart energy and environment campaign to help staff save energy and money at work and at home. Every day is Sustainability Day in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde! – NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
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