Meat off the menu in hospitals

Meat could be taken off hospital menus as part of a drive to cut carbon emissions across the National Health Service.

The plan to offer patients meat-free menus is part of a strategy to be announced tomorrow.

A report published last year showed the NHS's carbon dioxide emissions in 2004 were 18.6 million tonnes and rising — more than three per cent of all emissions in England. If the NHS was a country it would have been ranked as the 81st biggest polluter in the world that year, between Estonia and Bahrain.

Dr David Pencheon, director of the NHS sustainable development unit, said that the NHS had to act to make cuts in emissions and the changes would save money that could be spent on better services for patients.