Sustainability
ISO 14068-1: 2023 compliant
As a prominent medical device manufacturer in the UK, we recognise our pivotal role in shaping a healthier future for our planet and its inhabitants. Our sustainability strategy aims to not only reduce our environmental impact but also to positively influence our products, communities and the lives we touch. Grounded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our principles guide us to develop safe, effective products that not only bolster our business but also contribute to the sustainable success of our community and customers.
Our Ethos
Our People
Our Planet
Our Products
At Richardson Healthcare, we believe our responsibilities extend beyond simply delivering high-performance products and services to healthcare providers and patients in the UK.
We take a holistic approach to sustainability that considers our products, our people and our planet. These considerations have inspired the most important of our company values: the commitment to protect the rights, wellbeing and dignity of people at every stage of our supply chain. These values are enacted through the policies we follow, the standards we uphold and the campaigns we run.
Our policies and standards are reviewed regularly to ensure their compliance with national and international standards.
Click on each of our challenges below to discover our achievements and ongoing progress:
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Company Value: Employee Safety
Our Standards:
- Health and Safety Policy
- First aid and fire marshal-certified employees
- St. John Abumalnce AED-certified
How have these standards been achieved?
- Mandatory health and safety training for all employees resulted in 0 workplace accidents in 2023-24.
- Regular testing of emergency systems and tp-to-date PAT testing for all appliances
- Designated first aider and fire marshal conduct regular safety refresher meetings and monthly fire drills.
- 45% of Head Office employees are AED-trained.
Company Value: Marketing responsibility
Our Standards:
- Privacy Policy
- Accurate labelling
- Cyber Essentials Certification
- Medical Industry Accredited (MIA)
- LSI National Credentialing Register
- Bribery and Corruption Policy
How have these standards been achieved?
- 100% of marketing and sales team members are trained in GDPR.
- All labelling compliant with ISO 15223-1:2021.
- Robust and validated protocols in place to protect company data.
- All field staff are required to be MIA-certified and LSI-registered.
- Our Bribery and Corruption Policy is compliant with the UK’s Bribery Act of 2010.
Company Value: Sourcing with care
Our Standards:
- Modern Slavery Policy
- Labour Standards Assurance System (LSAS)
- Social Audits
How have these standards been achieved?
- 100% of company employees receive Modern Slavery Policy training.
- 100% suppliers are ISO 13485:2016 credited.
- 25% of our suppliers undergo annual Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit.
Company Value: Quality and innovation
Our Standards:
- UKCA mark
- UK MDR Certificate
- Quality Management System
- Rigorous Risk Assessments
- Complaint Mitigation
- Collaborative Working
How have these standards been achieved?
- Up-to-date UKCA mark and UK MDR certification indicating that all products comply with UK regulations.
- Quality Management System is compliant with ISO 13485:2016.
- 100% of our products are tested for safety following ISO 11737-2:2020.
- All products undergo risk assessments in accordance with ISO 14971:2019.
- The percentage of complaintes to total sales in 2024 was 0.000008%.
- Regular innovation panels with leading clinicians to improve our research and development processes.
Company Value: Equal opportunities
Our Standards:
- Equal Opportunities Policy
- Disabled Confident Committed Employer
- Mental Health in the Workplace Pledge
How have these standards been achieved?
- 50/50 gender balance between men and women in senior management.
- 53.3% ethnic minority background representation at all company levels (including senior management).
- Improved accessibility of office premises for employees with disabilities.
Company Value: Sustainability
Our Standards:
- PAS 2060
- Carbon Reduction Plan
- Environmental Procurement Policy
- Sustainability Statement
- Evergreen Assessment
How have these standards been achieved?
- Achieved PAS 2060 certification for two years in a row.
- Updated our Carbon Reduction Plan annually since reporting year 2022.
- Appointed two Sustainability Leads to spearhead our decarbonisation efforts.
- Undertaking the NHS Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment for the second year in a row.
- ‘Plastic-free Office’ initiative implemented, which eliminated all single-use plastic from company premises.
- ‘Hire Local’ ethos adopted by the company. 100% of Head Office employees live within a 20m radius of the company.
At Richardson Healthcare, we know that an inclusive culture is the key to long-term success.
An inclusive and diverse workforce ensures that fresh ideas and perspectives are always at the table. That is why we have always prioritised equal opportunities at all company levels. We are proud to have established a fantastic team of people from diverse backgrounds, races, genders and ages.
Our people strategy is simple:
- Attract the best talent.
- Foster growth and personal development.
- Support our local community.
- Promote values of fairness and inclusivity across our supply chain.
- Retain our talent.
We recognise that the standards we set not only affect us, but can have positive and far-reaching implications for local and international communities. As such, we will continue to work with our business partners, suppliers and contractors to promote these values and ethical standards across our entire supply chain.
Click on each of our challenges below to discover our achievements and ongoing progress:
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Our target: Diverse and healthy culture
Challenges:
- Women comprise 77% of the NHS’ workforce [1]
- Only 37% of women hold senior management positions in the NHS. [2]
- Only 84% of NHS board members come from minority ethnic backgrounds. [3]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- Achieved 50/50 gender balance in senior management positions.
- 46.2% ethnic minority background representation across all company levels.
- Become a Diability Confident Committed Employer.
- Priorities office accessibility (i.e. Blue Badge parking spaces).
Our Ongoing Progress:
- Maintained 50/50 gender balance in senior management positions.
- 7.1% increase in ethnic moinority background representation across all company levels to 53.3%.
- Pursuing Disability Confident Employer Level 2 status.
Our target: Encourage new ideas and innovation
Challenges:
- Investment in employee training has fallen by a quarter since 2005. [4]
- 7 million UK workers are currently at risk of becoming under-skilled for their job. [5]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- Annual training appraisals for all employees to learn new skills to enhance their job performance.
- Internal refresher courses for key company functions.
- External trianing is promoted to foster broader workplace-unrelated skills development.
Our Ongoing Progress:
- Frequency of training appraisals increased to a quarterly basis.
- Implementation of monthly ‘Collaboration Circles’, where cross-department employees share key project information, share insights and offer support to improve communication and outcomes.
Our target: Engaged community partner
Challenges:
- 96,000 people are identified as income deprived in Hertfordshire. [6]
- 43,000 people are identified as employment deprived in Hertfordshire. [7]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- All employees live within a 20m radius of our Head Office.
- Annual fundraisers for local youth and causes.
- Donated medical devices to local hospices.
Our Ongoing Progress:
- ‘Hire local’ ethos maintained during recent recruitment drives.
- Annual fundraisers to support local youth (i.e. Watford FC toy drive).
- Expanded medical device donations to nursing homes and leg ulcer clinics.
Our planet is facing unprecedented environmental challenges caused by climate change. The shift in global temperature has given rise to natural disasters, poor air quality, unsafe drinking water and contaminated food.
Healthcare has a large climate footprint, accounting for 4.4% of all global emissions. [1] This figure is comparable to the carbon footprint of the NHS, which comprises 4% of the UK’s total emissions. [2] These emissions can be attributed to the delivery of care in both acute and community settings, supplier manufacturing, transportation, building energy, prescriptions and waste.
As a supplier to the largest healthcare organisation in the world, we are working with our key business partners to reduce our direct and indirect emissions, implement more sustainable building and logistics practices, and extend the life cycle of our products. We aim to create a stronger, more resilient and greener operational infrastructure that will guarantee quality care without damaging ecosystems or perpetuating health inequalities.
Click on each of our challenges below to discover our achievements and ongoing progress:
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Challenge: Carbon Footprint
Issues:
- Healthcare accounts for 4.4% of all global emissions [10]
- The NHS accounts for 4% of England’s total emissions [11]
- 62% of the NHS’s carbon footprint derives from the use of quipment and consumables. [12]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- Appointed a Sustainability Lead to manage decarbonisation efforts.
- Achieved PAS 2060 certification.
- Published our first Carbon Reduction Plan.
- Invested in 3 carbon offset projects (validated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
Our Ongoing Progress:
- Appointed second Sustainability Lead to support decarbonisation efforts.
- Updated our annual Carbon Reduction Plan.
- Achieved a PAS 2060 certification of carbon neatrality for the second year in a row.
- Achieved a 23% total emissions reduction in our second reporting year.
- Completed the NHS Evergreen Sustainability Supplier Assessment for the second year in a row.
- Invested in a further 3 validated carbon offset projects.
Challenge: Waste
Issues:
- The NHS generates 590,000 tonnes of waste, accounting for 5% of its emissions. [13]
- 15% of its waste is sent to landfill and 23% is incinerated. [14]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- Redesigned our Asepsis procedure pack, resulting in a 43% reduction in disposable waste volume.
Our Ongoing Progress:
- Working with our manugacturing partners to optimise the design of the rest of our procedure pack range to reduce disposable waste volumne.
Challenge: Natural Resource Use
Issues:
- Healthcare relies heavily on natural resources such as paper, rubber, petroleum, biomass and water. [14]
- Studies show that the healthcare sector is responsible for 470,000 adjusted life years due to irresponsible resource use. [15]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- 10% of our suppliers have developed a water reuse system, resulting in a 50% increase in water reuse during the manufacturing process.
- Digitised over 70% of our company processes by shifting to cloud-based services.
Our Ongoing Progress:
- Digitised a further 5% of our company processes.
Challenge: Logistics
Issues:
- Transportation accounts for 14% of the NHS’s emisions and resource use.
- NHS-associated transportation accounts for 3.5% of all UK road traffic.
Our 2024 Achievements:
- Reduce our upstream transportation by 33% since 2022.
- 5% decrease in employee commuting since 2022.
- 50% increase in low-carbon commuting to Head Office since 2022.
Our Ongoing Progress:
- Relocated our UK warehouse closer to key NHS depots to reduce emissions and enhance time efficiency.
- Updated our Green Travel Policy.
The research, development and manufacture of our products has always taken a patient-first approach. This approach is a balancing act that considers quality, ease of use in clinical settings, cost-effectiveness and good patient outcomes.
Despite the resource-heavy nature of some of our key areas of clinical concern (i.e., wound care and urology), sustainability has not, until recently, been at the forefront of clinical decisions during the delivery of care.
In response to this challenge, we have adopted a three-fold approach to our products:
- Optimising the design of existing products in order to maximise benefits while minimising the use of unsustainable materials and waste.
- Incorporating sustainable principles and practices into the development of new products from the beginning.
- Expanding our educational resources and services for both our products and a range of clinical indications. This is undertaken with the intention of reducing the unnecessary use of resources and limiting waste through improved clinical pathways and practice.
Click on each of our challenges below to discover our achievements and ongoing progress:
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Challenge: Plastic
Issues:
- The UK Government estimates that 5 million tonnes of plastic are used each year. Nearly half of this plasic comes from packaging [17]
- 133,000 tonnes of total NHS waste comes from plastic and only 5% is recovered. [18]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- Reduce the amount of virgin plastic in the outer packaging by 10% for three of our product ranges: Asepsis, Softdrape and Cath-it.
- The internal contents of Asepsis were redesigned to reduce virgin plastic by 55%.
Our Ongoing Progress:
- Piloting a plastic-reuse programme for procedure packs across a whole NHS ICS.
Challenge: Raw Materials
Issues:
- Deforestation accounts for 11% of annual global CO2 emmissions. [19]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- 18% of our product range packaging is FSC-certified.
Our Ongoing Progress:
- 70% of our product line packaging is now FSC-certified.
Challenge: Product Lifecycles
Issues:
- 1.4% of NHS Supply Chain emissions comes from single-use devixes. [20]
Our 2024 Achievements:
- In 2023, 100% of our unavoidable waste was converted into Refuse Derived Waste (RDF).
Our Ongoing Progress:
- Continued to convert unavoidable waste into RDF.
References:
- Anderson, Michael, et al. Securing a Sustainable and Fit for Purpose UK Health and Care Workforce. Lancet 2021; 397(10288): 1992-2011.
- Ibid: 1992-2011
- Ibid: 1992-2011
- Ibid: 1992-2011
- Industrial Strategy Council. UK Skills Match in 2030, 2019: 4.
- OSCI. A Needs Analysis Report for Hertfordshire Community Foundation: 14. Available at: Hertfordshire-Matters—Full-report-REVISED-6th-Feb-2020-with-additional-date-information-smaller-file.pdf (hertscf.org.uk)
- Ibid
- Pencheon D, Wight J. Making Healthcare and Health Systems Net Zero. BMJ 2020;368:m970. Available at: https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m970
- NHS England and NHS Improvement. Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service. 2020.https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/publication/delivering-a-net-zero-national-health-service
- Pencheon D, Wight J. Making Healthcare and Health Systems Net Zero, 2020. BMJ; 368: 970
- NHS. Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service, 2022: 8. Available at: B1728-delivering-a-net-zero-nhs-july-2022.pdf (england.nhs.uk)
- Pencheon D, Wight J. Making Healthcare and Health Systems Net Zero, 2020. BMJ; 368: 970
- NHS. Health and Environment. NHS Long Term Plan. Available at: NHS Long Term Plan » Health and the environment
- Jameton, Andrew, Pierce, Jessica. Environment and Health: Sustainable Health Care and Emerging Ethical Responsibilities. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2001; 164(3): 365-366
- Hu, Howard, et al. Sustainability in Health Care. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 2022; 47: 173
- Hughes, Lindsey. Uncovering Innovations to Unlock a Healthier Future. NHS England 2022. Available at: NHS England » Uncovering innovations to unlock a healthier future
- Smith, Louise. Plastic Waste. House of Commons of Library 2022: 6
- Rizan, Chantelle, et al. Plastics in Healthcare: Time for Re-evaluation. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 2020: 113(2): 49-53
- Dunne, Daisy. Deforestation Has Driven up Hottest Day Temperatures. Carbon Brief. Available at: Deforestation has driven up hottest day temperatures, study says – Carbon Brief
- NHS. Delivery a Net Zero National Health Service 2022: 22. Available at: delivering-a-net-zero-national-health-service.pdf (england.nhs.uk)