In November 2022, the NFU and NVZ signed the Green Deal Sustainable Healthcare 3.0. The programme makes an important contribution to this agreement and offers healthcare professionals, including sustainability coordinators, the opportunity to become part of a national and regional learning network of Green nurse champions.

We support these professionals in becoming experts in the implementation of sustainability interventions, enabling them to use their passion for greener healthcare to make a proven positive impact. Together with all other hospitals in the Netherlands, we aim to reduce the ecological footprint of healthcare.

There is financial support of €16,000 per hospital from the program to be able to free the Green nurse champion for a few hours a week during the two implementation years. It is left to the hospitals themselves to set this up.

These are healthcare professionals within each hospital who are committed to implementing sustainable interventions in nursing units. Each hospital can appoint up to two Green nurse champions. For participation in the regional learning network, one representative is asked to take part, while the second can serve as a substitute.

The implementation phase will start in October 2025, supported by regional implementation leads and Green nurse champions.

First, a literature review was conducted to identify existing sustainability interventions in nursing units and for medicines. In addition, healthcare professionals were invited to contribute their own initiatives or interventions through a questionnaire.

The proposed sustainability interventions were then assessed by healthcare professionals — including nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and sustainability coordinators — for feasibility using the Delphi method.

This process resulted in a Green guide containing 21 sustainable interventions for nursing units and 8 sustainable interventions for medicines, all suitable for implementation in Dutch hospitals.

The medicines component (pillar 2) focuses on reducing unnecessary medicine use through de-prescribing. Examples include switching from intravenous to oral medication (such as paracetamol), discontinuing acid suppressants that are often started during hospital admission but wrongly continued after discharge, and limiting unnecessarily prolonged use of topical corticosteroids.

Each hospital is expected to implement two to four medicine-related interventions within two years. The de-prescribing of medicines will primarily be carried out by physicians and pharmacists.

The menu of sustainable medicine interventions will be developed using the Delphi method and shared soon.