Lean and Green healthcare

July 22nd, 2025

Healthcare faces unprecedented challenges as the planet’s temperature increases. The impact of this phenomenon on population health is well documented, with the stewardship roles of those in healthcare not widely considered. As improvers, trained to remove waste from processes, we are ideally placed to extend this thinking to healthcare sustainability, acting as catalysts for change. The purpose of my research is to explore the possibility of incorporating ‘green’ metrics into every improvement opportunity. This presentation will share experiences so far, acknowledging that often healthcare workers feel too pressured with other priorities to give the triple planetary crisis more attention.

Elaine Mead

Elaine Mead is Executive Director of Improvement, Care and Compassion, IC&C, an organization committed to supporting leaders on their improvement journey across the UK and Europe. Elaine has enjoyed over 35 years’ experience working in clinical, managerial and Executive roles within the National Health Service across the UK.

Elaine originally trained as a radiographer with experience in general, research and academic settings. Following the completion of an MBA, she was privileged to serve as Chief Executive of NHS Highland for eight years, originally moving to the Highlands of Scotland, as their first Chief Operating Officer. In this role Elaine was responsible for the development of the first fully integrated health and care system in Scotland, which continues to support services across 41% of the most remote and rural land mass of the UK. Elaine is a passionate ambassador for continuous quality improvement and led the development of the Highland Quality Approach, a management system supporting NHS Highland to improve quality of care based on increasing value.

Elaine has become increasingly concerned about the impact of healthcare on climate change, population health, and pollution, and combines these interests as PhD candidate at University College Dublin researching the potential interface between quality improvement and sustainable healthcare. Elaine was past Chair of the International Alliance of Water Stewardship where she remains an active board member and was awarded Fellowship status for her work as Chair of the Greener Health Special Interest Group for the UK Institute of Health and Social Care Management.

Elaine coaches and supports teams at Board and Executive on quality management systems, leading for improvement and sustainability as Leadership Faculty for the Institute of Health Improvement and was Executive Sensei for NHS Improvement Vital Signs program in England. As a founding member of the Catalysis European CEO Forum, Elaine now continues to connect colleagues across Europe as Lead Faculty, facilitating and supporting the Forum Gemba visits from her base in Scotland. She was awarded a Fellowship by the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua), is a member of QScotland, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) and the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce. (RSA).