Scotland’s Climate Week stories – meet Abi Heijgelaar

Scotland’s Climate Week is an opportunity to celebrate and encourage climate action. A chance to learn more about what we can all do to help.

We all have a part to play – whatever our role. And we’re all in it together.

We are over 180,000 strong, so what we do can make a real difference. Every action counts.

Meet Abi

Abi Heijgelaar, Climate Change and Circular Economy Lead, National Procurement, NHS National Services Scotland

This #ScotClimateWeek, we’re shining a spotlight on some of the work happening across Scotland to make our NHS more sustainable – and the people behind this work.

We caught up with Abi Heijgelaar, Climate Change and Circular Economy Lead, National Procurement, NHS National Services Scotland.

Each year, millions of vital supplies are procured and supplied to hospital wards, departments, community centres and other healthcare settings.

Embedding sustainability across our supply chain is critical to a more environmentally sustainable NHS, while also increasing resilience.

And this is exactly what Abi and her sustainable procurement colleagues are focusing on, working collaboratively with boards, partners and suppliers. As Abi explains:

“Including circularity in what we do and how we do it, right across NHSScotland, is vital to supporting NHSScotland’s net zero goals.

“Working towards a more circular economy will help to protect valuable resources and scarce materials, and extending the life of our products and services can save money in the long run. It’s important to consider the whole life cost of what we buy and not just the unit price.

“As well as incorporating sustainability considerations into our national procurement frameworks, we are also exploring opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of NHSScotland’s procurement.

“Walking aids is one product that patients and staff have highlighted over the years. We’d love to support boards by offering procurement solutions that encourage the return, refurbishment and reissue of items like walking sticks and frames. Several boards already have return schemes in place – we would like to use these as best practice examples and support other boards to adopt these solutions.”

 As well as focusing on circularity in her day job, Abi also likes to try and include these considerations at home.

“I love to sew and do textile crafts in my spare time. Any makes are very much ‘slow fashion’ – they should be something that I’ll want to wear again and again. At the moment, any time I have for sewing is mostly repairing holes in my son’s trousers but repairing them saves buying new pairs and some quick fixes can extend the life of the item!

“I also try not to buy new where possible and love to source and sell items on online marketplaces. I buy a lot of the kid’s clothing second hand and then sell on items that they have outgrown and that are still good quality.”

Photo by Claudio Testa