Amended EU energy efficiency rules for NHS welcomed

The NHS Confederation has welcomed news that the European Parliament will be changing new energy efficiency proposals that were criticised as inflexible.

A campaign had been launched by the NHS European Office to protest new requirements for public bodies to renovate three percent of their buildings' floor space to provide high energy efficiency levels each year.

It was calculated that if applied to the health service, this would incur costs of 70 million pounds a year, which could be crippling at a time when the NHS is already struggling to meet demanding savings targets.

As such, the European Parliament has voted to relax the rules, allowing NHS organisations to make energy savings where possible, without needing to meet prescriptive targets.

Elisabetta Zanon, director of the NHS European Office, said "We are delighted that, following our work with decision-makers in Brussels, a more flexible approach has been achieved to allow NHS trusts to reduce their energy consumption."

The European Office of the NHS Confederation is based in Brussels and London and covers a wide range of EU policy and legislative developments that have implications for the NHS.