Stockport blood science laboratory earns Gold sustainability certification

Stockport blood science laboratory: what Gold means

In its announcement of the laboratory’s award, the trust describes sustainability becoming part of daily operations. Its account highlights attention to energy consumption, minimising waste and using resources more efficiently.

The department received a plaque and certificate from the My Green Lab team alongside Siemens Healthineers, which supported the certification process. Colleagues also marked the presentation with a commemorative cake. The announcement date does not establish when the assessment or presentation took place.

Sustainability Manager Laura Swann linked the project to staff taking responsibility within their own teams. Pathology Associate Divisional Director Mark Gordon highlighted the necessary use of single-use plastics and consumables in pathology. Together, those observations explain why staff involvement and resource choices matter within this particular working environment.

My Green Lab lists its levels in ascending order as Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Green. Recognition reflects the breadth and depth of sustainable practices adopted. My Green Lab Gold therefore represents a defined level within the framework, rather than its highest award.

How assessment and continuous improvement work

The current published certification pathway starts with a baseline assessment. This establishes an initial picture of laboratory practice before teams implement improvements. It includes an engagement survey requiring 50% participation, an assessment tool, review of an impact estimator and submission for baseline review.

The pathway gives an indicative duration of three to four weeks for this stage. That is programme guidance, not a documented timetable for the Stockport blood science laboratory.

During implementation, laboratory personnel work together on changes while continuing to use the assessment tool and impact estimator. The published pathway allows an indicative three to six months for this work. Its emphasis is on collective changes within the laboratory, rather than recognition based only on a statement of intent.

At submission, the laboratory repeats the engagement survey, again with 50% participation, and submits its completed assessment tool and impact estimator. Certification review then verifies selected documentation determined through a risk-based assessment.

My Green Lab identifies Impact Laboratories as its current independent verification partner. Its certification programme information also describes continuing support, progress tracking and recertification every two years. The main programme page says that the baseline stage is not required for recertification.

These details explain how the current system approaches improvement and review. They should not be used to reconstruct Stockport’s assessment history. The trust’s announcement does not publish the laboratory’s numerical score, certification version, assessment responses or expiry date.

Nor does the announcement quantify energy savings or carbon reductions. My Green Lab Gold is the reported recognition; a particular reduction in electricity consumption, emissions or costs cannot be calculated from that level alone. Likewise, the current two-year recertification cycle does not establish an expiry date for Stockport’s award.

The separate joint Green Plan for 2025–2028

The laboratory announcement sits alongside wider organisational planning, but the two should remain distinct. The joint Green Plan for 2025–2028 covers Stockport and Tameside and Glossop trusts. It sets an ambition for carbon neutrality by 2038, rather than reporting that this has already been achieved.

The plan contains ten workstreams: workforce leadership, clinical transformation, digital services, transport, estates, medicines, procurement, food, adaptation and nature. Their scope reaches well beyond the laboratory recognised with My Green Lab Gold.

The document records existing IT reuse and recycling. Its proposed digital actions include greener guidance, expanded virtual wards and rationalisation of printers and hardware. These planned changes are subject to equality impact assessment, which considers how changes may affect different groups of people.

On transport, the plan records four small electric vans at Stockport. Future actions include annual staff surveys, improved walking and cycling facilities, and partnership work encouraging active travel and public transport.

Procurement commitments and progress reporting

The Green Plan also gives suppliers and local businesses a view of the trusts’ procurement priorities. It records a 10% net zero/social value weighting in every tender, alongside carbon reduction requirements in relevant procurements. These are statements in the plan, not a separate verification of current conditions for any particular tender.

Planned procurement actions include sustainability key performance indicators, more Evergreen-compliant suppliers, published supply-chain emissions data, circular procurement and reduced packaging. Circular procurement focuses on keeping products and resources in use, rather than treating disposal as the automatic endpoint.

The plan sets out delivery-group meetings every two months and committee reporting every six months. It also provides for annual board updates and annual action reviews. Those arrangements give the wider programme a reporting structure separate from laboratory sustainability certification.

For Stockport, the completed development is the laboratory’s My Green Lab Gold recognition. The wider procurement, digital and transport commitments remain part of the separately documented Green Plan. Readers seeking the detail can consult the linked plan, particularly its procurement commitments on page 18 and reporting arrangements on page 24.