New Instruction from Westminster PCT

We are very excited to be working with Westminster Primary Care Trust to help impliment the NHS Good Corporate Citizen model. The project will start with an audit of current practices and following a series of workshops with internal and external stakeholders we will develop and impliment an action plan. In addition to promoting sustainable development in the Trust we will seek to use the model to improve health inequalities in the area.

 NHS Good Corporate Citizen
The Good Corporate Citizenship model (developed by the Sustainable Development Commission for the NHS) describes how NHS organisations can embrace sustainable development and tackle health inequalities through their day-to-day activities. This means using NHS organisations’ corporate powers and resources in ways that benefit rather than damage the social, economic and environmental conditions in which we live. How the NHS behaves - as an employer, a purchaser of goods and services, a manager of transport, energy, waste and water, as a landholder and commissioner of building work and as an influential neighbour in many communities - can make a big difference to people’s health and to the well being of society, the economy and the environment.  See www.corporatecitizen.nhs.uk.

The Project
Westminster Primary Care Trust (PCT) sought an audit of corporate citizenship within the PCT and the development and implementation of an action plan consistent with the NHS Good Corporate Citizenship model.
The delivery of this service will include:
1. A baseline audit of the PCT using the NHS Corporate Citizen model.
2. Establish a Corporate Citizenship Committee to help reduce health inequalities and make a positive social, economic and environmental contribution to the communities in Westminster.
3. Implement recommendations from the action plan and monitor progress of the organisation.
4. Utilise the project to help provide assurance against Healthcare Commission performance standards.

Experience
The experience of the team and the priority given to addressing health inequalities were major factors in wining this instruction. Relevant experience includes:
- Policy appraisal;
- Health and sustainable development;
- Environmental impacts of providing NHS services;
- Conduct of various types of impact assessment and appraisal (including health impact assessment, life-cycle assessment, environmental impact assessment, strategic environmental assessment and sustainability appraisal); and
- Participation and consultation techniques with different stakeholder groups.

Conclusion
We are very excited to be working with Westminster PCT, its staff, partners and the local community to explore the ways in which the PCT can contribute to sustainable development on a local, regional and national level.