Strategic planning in public healthcare organisations: Is sustainability a consideration?

Background: In 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged health sectors to lead by example in undertaking sustainability initiatives to protect people from the effects of climate change.1 Organisational focus and commitment to sustainability encourages employees’ uptake of environmentally responsible behaviours.2 Purpose: To explore organisational commitment to sustainability in two public healthcare organisations – NHS (UK) and Queensland Health (Australia). Methods: The strategic plans for Queensland Health (released 2016) and NHS (released 2017) were uploaded into Leximancer® text analytic software and a Quadrant Overview map produced. Prominent concepts were compared. Results: The Quadrant Overview did not reveal any concepts in either strategic plan document relating to climate change mitigation, the environment, or sustainable development initiatives. Conclusions: Until sustainability is embedded in public health organisations’ DNA and articulated in strategic plans, sustainability initiatives at hospital level will be slow to occur. Both top-down and bottom-up support for sustainability is required for action. References 1. World Health Organisation. Protecting Health from Climate Change - World Health Day 2008 [cited 2011 27 July]; Available from: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/toolkit/report_web.pdf 2. Gladwin TN, Kennelly JJ, Krause T-S. Shifting Paradigms for Sustainable Development: Implications for Management Theory and Research. The Academy of Management Review 1995.20(4):874-907