Corporate Social Responsibility
Charity Partners
Cure Leukaemia and Mental Health UK selected by Siemens Healthineers as Charities of Choice
The Corporate Social Responsibility initiative at Siemens Healthineers encourages employees across Great Britain to vote for two charities every two years. With five UK charities to choose from, the 2021 vote confirmed Cure Leukaemia and Mental Health UK as the official Charities of Choice. The newly appointed charities follow two year partnerships with Macmillan Cancer Support and brain tumour charity, brainstrust, for whom employees raised over £16,000 through a combination of internal events.
COVID-19 has caused increased demand for a number of charitable services. With eight out of ten charities expecting the pandemic to have a negative impact on delivering their objectives, Siemens Healthineers is keen to support as the world settles into a new normal1.
Mental Health UK and Cure Leukaemia will remain Charities of Choice for the next two years during which employees of Siemens Healthineers across the UK will come together to raise funds for the two causes. The selection follows the launch of a revised CSR strategy in 2019, and partnerships with the two charities align well with the initiative’s three main elements: improving healthcare, enhancing education and supporting the community.
Mental Health UK
Mental Health UK works across the country to support people affected by mental health problems – bringing together over 40 years of expertise from four national founding charity partners to improve understanding and provide vital care. A partnership with Siemens Healthineers can help to support services like Clic, an online space to talk about mental health, launched in response to challenges raised by the pandemic. COVID-19 has, in many cases, exacerbated loneliness, with 2.6 million adults across the UK reporting they feel lonely “often” or “always”2.
“We are proud to be partnering with Siemens Healthineers at such a critical time,” states Katie Legg, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at Mental Health UK. “Recent research suggests up to 8.5 million adults will experience poor mental health in the coming years, owing to the pandemic. Siemens Healthineers will help us support more people when they need it most. Thank you to all the staff who voted for us - together we will support thousands of people in managing their mental health.”
Cure Leukaemia
In addition to the increased burden on charities, COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the National Health Service which now faces a significant backlog of non-COVID-19 care3. Cure Leukaemia is a charity supporting the allocation of patients to potentially lifesaving clinical trials – funding the national Trials Acceleration Programme. This network of specialist research nurses enables the rapid setup, recruitment, and delivery of pioneering blood cancer clinical trials.
“We are delighted to announce our partnership with Siemens Healthineers and look forward to engaging with staff across the UK this year,” James McLaughlin, Chief Executive Officer for Cure Leukaemia states. “We would like to highlight the range of fundraising opportunities available to staff,
including the upcoming Tour 21 event. Hopefully there is something for everyone and we look forward to growing
our relationship throughout 2021.”
Enhancing Education
The Next Big Thing
Inspiring the next generation of healthcare entrepreneurs.
Young entrepreneurs from schools across Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire show off their business skills in the Siemens Healthineers Next Big Thing Challenge. They will be creating an Artificial Intelligence prototype that could benefit and improve independent living for the elderly. The ageing population in the UK is an issue that our current healthcare service is struggling to adapt to, and this event will give the children a glimpse into our society and how they could potentially change it.
We are pleased to announce that we are collaborating with The Smallpeice Trust to present our annual STEM project. Smallpeice are a vibrant, energetic educational charity that is passionate about engaging 10 to 18 year olds to take up careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
Siemens UK Education
We make science, technology, engineering and maths come to life in the classroom. Here you will find curriculum lesson plans, interactive resources, insights into STEM careers and information about challenges and events.
Supporting the Community
In 2019, our colleagues at Siemens Healthineers managed to raise over £10,000 for charity through various fundraising activities throughout the year. This money predominantly went to our employee chosen 'charities of choice', brainstrust and Macmillan Cancer Support, alongside external charitable events that colleagues took part in.
We are proud to support our community and look forward to what we can do in 2020 to continue this mission to help where we can.
Take a look through the photos on the left for a glimpse of what we got up to!
Promoting Better Health
Redefine the paediatric experience
Children differ fundamentally from other patient groups in terms of their emotional and cognitive needs. To offer children the best possible treatment, Siemens Healthineers and its partners have developed a holistic approach that will enable a smooth performance of imaging examinations (MRI, fluoroscopy and CT) on children. Child-friendly preparation and supporting materials are designed to help reduce the perceived stress level of medical staff, children, and parents, to enable a smooth examination process for all involved.
MRI Scan App
One in seven people has cancelled a hospital MRI scan appointment because they were scared to go, according to research. This app for adults and children helps to ease fears following referral for an MRI scan.
Experience a 360° virtual MRI scan (with realistic sounds); scan items; find out more about the steps from referral to results; and have all your questions answered about the technology and process. This app is a great way to help you find out in advance what it’s like to have an MRI scan. Turn on your sound; lie down and lean back; and move your tablet around to see what it’s really like to have an MRI scan.
Environmental Sustainability
In order to aid our company global goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2030, in Great Britain and Ireland we are actively working to reduce our emissions and carbon footprint:
- Our HQ have an integrated building management system which regulates heating, venting, and lighting and minimises energy consumption. 100% Building renewable energy.
- Reduction of mileage to customer site with the utilisation of equipment remote diagnostics and improvement of engineer allocation and routing via satellite tracking.
- Launch of vehicle electrification programme in 2019.
- Provision of specialist training to explain the correct equipment settings to maximise efficiency and performance of our products.
- Delivering education and training remotely, when appropriate.
- Facilitation of hybrid ways of working, enabling our staff to work from home.
- Investment in technology so that all our staff use low power computers and monitors.
Waste reduction measures
Most product packaging materials in shipments are returned to our factory in Germany for reuse or for recycling.
Packaging used to deliver spare parts is generally used to ship back the removed used spare parts back to Siemens Healthineers.
Sustainable product design
PREP (Product Related Environmental Protection), serves as our strategy for Eco-Design and covers products and packaging to identify improvements.
End of life product
We refurbish systems and reuse components and replacement parts whenever possible through our Refurbished Systems business.
Within our office environments
We segregate waste into the various waste streams to recycle wherever possible, and we ensure that no waste at our HQ goes to landfill.
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/56-charities-expect-rising-demand-for-services.html
Office for National Statistics Coronavirus and Loneliness, Great Britain: 3 April to 3 May 2020
https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/pressure-points-in-the-nhs