Dr Yulia Omer BSc (Hons), MSc
About
My research project
Facilitating sustainable consumption practices in a hospital trust: a study of energy and everyday consumablesHealthcare is responsible for 5% of carbon emissions globally. In the UK NHS contributes to 20% of the overall public sector emissions. Two thirds of these emissions is attributed to energy use and procurement of goods and services with demand projected to rise leading to further increase in the use of resources. However, NHS has also committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2040. A service orientation of the sector means that much of the future carbon savings will come from reducing and changing patters of consumption (as oppose to production), such as alternative models of care and everyday working practices.
My research examines processes of facilitating sustainable consumption in acute hospitals using Social Practice Theory based framework applied to everyday working practices of hospital employees. The first stage of the project involves investigating opportunities for reducing waste and energy use across four types of clinical areas: acute, inpatient, outpatient wards and theatres. The second stage is action research, which examines ways of facilitating change. I discuss which tools, skills and meanings are needed for establishing sustainable practices. Based on the initial findings, I also reflect on what the future transition to sustainable consumption may look like in the context of competing priorities, such as increasing demand for single use items as a result of the pandemic. I also note how reducing environmental impacts of consumption can help mitigate future risks in a form of more local procurement, reducing waste and the use of renewable resources.
The research is sponsored by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Supervisors
Healthcare is responsible for 5% of carbon emissions globally. In the UK NHS contributes to 20% of the overall public sector emissions. Two thirds of these emissions is attributed to energy use and procurement of goods and services with demand projected to rise leading to further increase in the use of resources. However, NHS has also committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2040. A service orientation of the sector means that much of the future carbon savings will come from reducing and changing patters of consumption (as oppose to production), such as alternative models of care and everyday working practices.
My research examines processes of facilitating sustainable consumption in acute hospitals using Social Practice Theory based framework applied to everyday working practices of hospital employees. The first stage of the project involves investigating opportunities for reducing waste and energy use across four types of clinical areas: acute, inpatient, outpatient wards and theatres. The second stage is action research, which examines ways of facilitating change. I discuss which tools, skills and meanings are needed for establishing sustainable practices. Based on the initial findings, I also reflect on what the future transition to sustainable consumption may look like in the context of competing priorities, such as increasing demand for single use items as a result of the pandemic. I also note how reducing environmental impacts of consumption can help mitigate future risks in a form of more local procurement, reducing waste and the use of renewable resources.
The research is sponsored by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
University roles and responsibilities
- Conduct research and undertake projects full-time at the placement organisation
- Occasionally deliver presentations to MSc students at CES
- Assist with supervision of MSc students at their industrial 6-week placements
My qualifications
News
In the media
Publications
Summary
The proportion of telephone outpatient appointments has risen to over 50% during
recent months.
Telephone appointments consistently achieve a higher attendance rate.
Telemedicine avoids travel, which reduces pollution.
Travel and transport constitutes around 13% of healthcare emissions in England
Telemedicine can save as much as 95% of carbon emissions compared to face to face
(Oliveira et al., 2013)
There are other generic benefits, such as reducing waste, convenience, reduced costs.
Telemedicine is not a substitute for all face to face outpatient appointments
Patient circumstances and data security must be considered when increasing the
number of telemedicine appointments.
Waste management in hotels is of critical importance to daily operation of the business. However, it is often an overlooked process. This article explores which types of waste management strategies are more and less commonly adopted in UK hotels. It also evaluates whether there is a difference between the types of waste management strategies implemented in different categories of hotels, based on their ownership and level of service. The aim is to identify recommendations on how waste management should be approached at different types of hotels. Data was collected from online reports and hotel websites. Overall, 52 hotels were selected through convenience sampling. A Chi-squared analysis was performed in order to identify differences between the types of hotels in relation to the waste management strategies they implemented. The results showed that recycling was the most widely adopted waste management strategy, with waste prevention and reuse methods being considerably underutilised. No statistically significant differences were found between the hotels’ level of service and ownership and the type of waste management strategies they adopted. This suggests that a universal approach should be taken when studying, applying and promoting sustainable waste management strategies to the hotel industry.
Overweight and obesity has become an increasing issue around the world; particularly in the UK and the US. An increased tendency of consuming away-from-home foods is one of the factors contributing to this problem. Some researchers and government campaigners believe that menu labelling could help people make healthier and more informed choices when eating out. This article aims to review existing literature regarding the UK and US to analyse possible effects that menu labelling can have on diners’ choices and provides suggestions on how to improve the effectiveness of labelling. The review of the literature shows that menu labelling can improve some consumers' food choices, facilitate informed decisions and increase individual’s health concerns. However, labelling has limited effects on improving the choices of those consumers who eat out more frequently or are overweight. Labelling is also believed to lack accuracy when dishes are modified to cater for individual needs, and present only limited nutritional information. Suggestions to improve nutritional labelling on menus include: providing more comprehensive public education on nutrition and labelling, proposals of unified legislation and simplifying nutritional menu labelling by adding coloured symbols and arranging menu items in order of calorie value.
Responding to the increased interest in addressing organisational sustainability issues using behaviour change strategies, this paper aims to propose a methodology for doing so from a different perspective – namely, sociology and social practice theory. Firstly, the background of behaviour change approaches and practice theory are discussed. Then a methodology for conducting a pro-environmental organisational change project is proposed. The methodology involves five key elements: detailed analysis of context, outlining a theoretical framework, establishing project boundaries, acknowledging connectivity of practices and choosing data collection methods. We illustrate the application of methodology by using examples of everyday consumables, energy and waste in a hospital trust in the South East of England. This approach has been effective for analysing routine and inconspicuous consumption within an organisation, as it considers individual attitudes and motivations as well as the structural and habitual nature of communities of practices. It allows researchers and managers to understand workplace consumption issues from several perspectives and identify the best angle from which to approach potential resolutions.