BIVDA, our members, ABHI, BSNA, and the wider HealthTech industry are committed to reducing the environmental impact of the sector and are investing heavily to do so. This is exemplified through adherence to the current milestones of the Net Zero Supplier Roadmap and involvement in programmes such as Design for Life and Greener GIRFT.

The publication of today’s guidance is an important step in the NHS’s journey to Net Zero. Companies have, however, expressed concern about being able to realistically commit to, and then meet, Net Zero by 2050 for all scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. The challenge is in the implementation, not the intention, of the 2027 milestone.

As we consider the implications of the guidance it is important to remember that the overarching principle must be to ensure that the needs of NHS patients are fully met. The inclusion of flexibilities around relevance and proportionality is welcome, but implementation could create significant unintended consequences if those flexibilities are not applied consistently by framework hosts and NHS bodies across the entire procurement landscape.

We also believe that there needs to be further, robust impact assessment of requirements, in particular additional costs faced by suppliers and, subsequently the NHS, and the extent to which this may affect supply chain resilience.

We are grateful for the level of engagement we have been afforded by colleagues in NHS England and look forward to working alongside them to ensure that the application of the guidance  is workable for the NHS and the patients its serves, and is consistent with the Government’s ambitions to make ours the best country in which to start, scale, grow and invest in HealthTech.