Kate Townsend

Kate has worked in healthcare for the last decade, specialising in sustainable healthcare for the last 5 years. Currently working for Bristol Foundation Trust as the Sustainability Manager, Kate is focusing on clinical sustainability, reducing waste and building climate resilience.

Prior to Bristol, she worked as the sole sustainability lead at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, working on a number of large and complex sustainability projects designed to reduce carbon emissions and build a sustainable infrastructure for staff, patients and visitors. Projects included solar panel installation, kick-starting a large, multi-year EV charging infrastructure programme, and creation of a nature trail and wellbeing garden in the main mental health hospital.

Kate believes passionately about bringing staff on the sustainability journey, and engaging them about climate change and how it will impact them specifically. In Berkshire she undertook a large travel ‘roadshow’, working with local businesses and the local councils to engage staff members on active travel, cycling, and electric cars.

Prior to Berkshire, Kate worked in NHS England, South East region, where she supported the 29 Trusts and 6 ICBs with sustainability and Green Plan implementation. Being placed within the Digital Transformation team, Kate saw an opportunity to work with the Virtual Wards teams to evaluate the impact of newly created virtual care pathways. This led to the collaboration with Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to calculate the carbon emissions of their virtual ward pathway.

Kate has a background in psychology, and worked at the Royal College of Psychiatrists for 6 years, doing quality improvement in Forensic Units, Psychiatric Intensive Care Units and Prison mental health. The move into sustainability came when studying the impacts nature has on mental health, and educating herself on systemic sustainable healthcare.