Building workforce capacity for sustainable healthcare action

Over the past 12 months, the Sustainable Healthcare team has worked closely with the UK Centre for Sustainable Healthcare and Safer Care Victoria to develop and deliver three Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) workshops equipping clinicians, educators and health service leaders with the tools to integrate environmental sustainability into clinical quality improvement.

The most recent workshop, held on 15 September 2025 at the University of Melbourne, brought together interprofessional healthcare workers from eight Victorian health services. The hands-on training helped staff identify opportunities to reduce environmental impact while improving patient care, with projects ranging from improving waste segregation to low-carbon models of care and more sustainable medication use.

Quantitative and qualitative feedback from participants highlights the program’s growing reach and impact. Across the three workshops, more than 90% of attendees reported increased confidence in integrating sustainability into clinical improvement, and over 95% indicated they would recommend the training to colleagues.

As one participant shared:

“The way talks were delivered and then applied through small activities helped build confidence to implement new knowledge immediately in the workplace.”

These workshops are tailored to support participants in the Health Services Environmental Sustainability Competition, ensuring project teams are set up for success and to deliver measurable, high-impact outcomes. Since the competition began in 2022, 44 completed projects have collectively saved $2.1 million, prevented 2.7 million kg CO₂-e emissions, diverted 4.7 tonnes of waste, and kept over 800,000 single-use items out of landfill.

These initiatives reflect a broader national momentum with the National Health and Climate Strategy, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care's Healthcare Sustainability and Resilience Module, dental professional competencies and medical education accreditation standards all supporting the embedding of planetary health, environmental sustainability, and quality improvement methodology into local curricula.

The University of Melbourne is Victoria’s only SusQI Beacon Site, recognised by the UK Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. These achievements align with the University’s Sustainability Plan 2030, MDHS Advancing Health 2030, and the new Melbourne Medical School Sustainability, Climate and Health Strategy 2025-2030, which together prioritise building workforce capacity and integrating sustainability and planetary health across education and research.

These achievements have been recognised through multiple nominations including the 2024 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards, 2025 Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) Sustainable Healthcare Awards, and the 2025 MDHS Staff Excellence Awards, highlighting their impact in embedding sustainability into education, research and clinical practice across the University and partner health services.

The team is about to launch a multi-site NHMRC-funded study to demonstrate how sustainability initiatives, including integrating sustainability into quality improvement, can deliver environmental, clinical, social and financial benefits while building a more confident, engaged and resilient health workforce.

Learn more: https://medicine.unimelb.edu.au/school-structure/critcare/sustainable-healthcare

Recent publication: Chanchlani S, Shi J, Allman J, Page M, Purushothaman G, O’Shaughnessy V, Manihar R, Kayak E, Dunne B. Environmental sustainability competitions: Engaging healthcare staff in sustainable and financially beneficial initiatives. Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management. 2025 Aug;20(2):1-7.