YORK Hospital bosses say they are cleaning up their act after it emerged they were failing to meet carbon reduction targets.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is among more than 60 per cent of NHS trusts which are not on course to meet the Government targets, according to analysis by the Data Investigations Unit at Newsquest, owner of The Press.

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth and Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman said it was ‘time the NHS took its responsibilities to climate change seriously,’ and Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said funding was needed to help it tackle the climate crisis.

But an NHS spokesman said it had reduced carbon emissions by 18.5 per cent between 2007 and 2017 and a York trust spokeswoman said it was committed to reducing its carbon footprint and had already reduced carbon emissions from its energy use by 19.9 percent and from waste and recycling by 18.8 percent, between 2014-15 and 2017-18.

“Taking into account the increase of patient services we provide, we have achieved a 33 percent reduction in carbon footprint per patient since 2007-08, which puts us in line with the 2020 target,” she said.

“In the last few months, the Trust has also been working with waste, recycling and energy efficiency specialists WRM to develop new sustainable working practices.”

She said projects underway included reusing furniture and other equipment, building energy optimisation - reviewing how to better monitor and control heating and cooling in its hospitals- and installing temporary sub-meters for wards and departments to promote awareness of energy consumption.

A new energy reduction working group would also review energy performance and drive forward energy saving initiatives.

“The Trust’s travel plan aims to reduce travel related pollution and traffic congestion through encouraging car sharing, the new park and ride service introduced earlier this year, and the use of teleconferencing for staff who drive more than 50 miles a week to get to meetings,” she added.