Sustainable social care programme
What is sustainable development?
Sustainable development is about social justice and wellbeing for all, about living environments in which everyone can flourish and be safe. A sustainable development approach to social care means the vulnerable in our society will be better placed to withstand the social, economic and climate pressures we are all facing.'
Will Day, Chair, UK Sustainable Development Commission
"Sustainability' is increasingly understood to require a balance of positive social, economic and environmental outcomes. This is sometimes known as the "triple bottom line'. Sustainability also means having regard to future as well as present generations. In policy terms, these approaches are combined under the term 'sustainable development'.
We want to make services more personalised, more preventitive and more focused on delivering the best outcomes for those who use them.
A vision for adults social care, Department of Health 2010
Taking a sustainable development approach may sometimes seem difficult, but the benefits are deep and long-lasting. The prize is to identify 'win-win-win' opportunities, such as the health and environmental benefits of 'green' travel planning which:
- encourages walking and cycling instead of driving
- reduces treatment costs to the NHS
- increases productivity for businesses through reduced sickness absence.
Sustainability, therefore, puts an emphasis on prevention and has been described by business leaders as a sound risk management policy. For further information about sustainable development, please visit:
- Local Government Improvement and Development: Knowledge – your sustainability questions answered
- Sustainable Development Commission
For evidence of the contribution of sustainable development to health and wellbeing, visit:
- Improvement Network: Signposting sustainability through CAA
- Sustainable Development Commission's NHS Good Corporate Citizenship Assessment Model.
- NHS Sustainable Development Unit
See also SCIE's At a Glance 28 Sustainable social care: the natural environment for key messages, evidence and case studies of the benefits for health and social care of access to nature.
