The significance of NHS Sustainable Development Policy is that the level of accepted practice has moved up. No longer do you have good practice and other practice in terms of integrating sustainable development. There will of course continue to be differences in the skill, effort and capability organisations adopt as they strive to maximise the optimal benefits of developing sustainable healthcare buildings, but now:

- All new-builds and refurbishments need to be sustainably constructed. New-builds must score 'Excellent' on BREEAM Healthcare and refurbishments a score of 'Very Good';
- Health Energy Targets have been set for all NHS trusts; and
- The White Paper 'Our Health, Our Care, Our Say' necessitates closer local partner and community engagement in the design and development of local healthcare services.

This module offers guidance on:

- Key regulations or activities to which you need to comply - BREEAM; Health Energy Targets; OJEU (2006)
- Other policies and tools which should influence your practices and processes - 'Our Health, Our Care, Our Say'; Environmental Management Systems; the Knowledge Information Portal; the Good Corporate Citizenship Toolkit; the Capital Investment Manual; Achieving Excellence Design Evaluation Toolkit (AEDET) and ASPECT

In addition key organisations or support bodies are identified to assist you in delivering sustainable healthcare buildings, for example: the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA); Department of Health Estates ProCure 21 Team and the Health Gateway Team.

Good practices and alternative approaches are also identified to assist you in developing the most effective and sustainable processes for you organisation, for example: PFI in the NHS; NHS LIFT; the OGC Gateway Review Process and the Design Development Protocol for PFI Schemes.