News

Ramsay wins top honour for sustainability strategy

May 07, 2021

Ramsay Health Care has topped a field of impressive candidates to win the Outstanding Organisation category in the 2021 HESTA Australia Nursing and Midwifery Awards.

The win, announced last night, celebrates Ramsay’s commitment to creating a cleaner, greener planet through its dedicated sustainability strategy; Ramsay Cares.

National Environment Manager for Ramsay Health Care Australia, Sue Panuccio, said the award was wonderful recognition of the organisation’s achievements.

“Having great aspirations is one thing but this award validates and celebrates all the efforts, challenges, ideas and contributions of our people across the whole organisation that have enabled us to achieve what we have through Ramsay Cares,” Ms Panuccio said.

“We are proud to be making a meaningful, positive impact on the environment and are committed to achieving even better results over the next five years, including reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, improving our energy intensity and continuing to install energy alternatives at our sites - such as solar panels,” she said.

Ramsay’s submission to the HESTA Australia judging panel outlined its incredible achievements in environmental sustainability, including:

• Targets to remove up to 24 million single-use plastic items from landfill every year,
• Remove an additional 6 million single use plastic water bottles, and
• The creation of an environmental sustainability fund to support site-based initiatives including energy efficient lighting, solar panels, and ultra violet pool water filtration systems.

The judges were also impressed by Ramsay’s exceptional recycling figures in 2020, including 39% of general waste and 98% of its unwanted IT assets.

“We will continue to look at how we can avoid plastics and reduce waste, particularly packaging, investigate better treatment of food waste and understand how we can better use and manage water,” Ms Panuccio said.

Ms Panuccio said the Ramsay Cares strategy was receiving great feedback from staff, including midwife Lucinda Port.

“Working for a company who puts environmental sustainability at the forefront of its future plans is very important to me. The global effort to be more sustainable is a gradual process but one I believe many people, including myself, are passionate about,” Ms Port said.

“Our colleagues bring new ideas to the table every day and I’m very proud to be part of the Ramsay sustainability strategy and pass these ideas along. The future of mine, and the children I help bring into the world, depends on us,” Ms Port said.

The HESTA Australia Nursing and Midwifery Awards also recognised the extraordinary dedication of John Flynn Private Hopsital midwife, Melanie Boulter - who was named as a finalist in the Midwife of the Year category.

The judges praised Ms Boulter for giving exceptional care to families for more than 20 years on the Gold Coast, and praised her for implementing the Know My Midwife program and being an experienced and thoughtful educator.