They all spoke to me calmly and explained what would be happening. They were amazing.
Sarah’s story
Published 26th June 2025
Our Commitments
Newmedica is fully committed to supporting the NHS with its Green Agenda and environmental targets; our aim being to achieve Net Zero by 2035 for the emissions that we control directly and to achieve Net Zero by 2045 for those emissions that we can influence. We are also committed to reducing our emissions by at least 90% and only relying on offsetting as a last resort.
Our Baseline Emissions in 2021 (calendar year)
We first measured our carbon emissions in 2021. To enable like-for-like comparison for 2024/25, following a change in provider and methodology, the 2021 baseline emissions have been re-calculated and are in the table below:
Our 2021 Baseline
Scope 3 Categories
NHS Subset: 4. Upstream T&D, 5. Waste, 6. Business Travel, 7. Employee Commuting
Balance: 1. Purchased Goods &Services, 2. Capital Goods, 3. Fuels, 8. Upstream Leased Assets, 12. Product End of Life
Remaining categories 9,10,11,13,14 and 15 are currently not applicable for New Medica.
Our Current Emissions - Reporting year 2024/25
*We have amended the reporting year to align with our financial year
This shows an increase in carbon emissions from 2021 to 2024/5 of 191%. Our mission is to enable more patients to access our high-quality NHS ophthalmology services and since the baseline period, we have opened 16 ophthalmology businesses, recruited new colleagues and seen a 200% increase in the number of cataract surgeries per year.
Given we are in a growth phase, an important measure is carbon per cataract surgery, and this has reduced by 5.1% from 2021 to 0.13tC02e in 2023 due to actions we have taken.
Our Emission Reduction Targets
Newmedica are fully committed to achieve Net Zero by 2035 for the emissions that we control directly (scope 1 & 2) and to achieve Net Zero by 2045 for those emissions that we can influence (scope 3).
We expect our absolute carbon emissions to increase in the next few years as we continue to open new hospital sites to provide care for chronic eye conditions for mainly NHS patients. Our initial focus is on reducing scope 1 and 2 but we expect to provide more detailed plans regarding scope 3 carbon reduction in the coming years. We expect to set a target for reducing our intensity ratio in due course.
Carbon Reduction Projects undertaken 2024/25
Understand the cost of switching from gas to low carbon heat sources for remaining sites (Scope 1).
Ensuring all future sites are powered by renewable electricity and low carbon heat (Scope 2)
Ensuring future OJV’s have the lowest EPC rating (and Building Energy Management Systems). Other areas of focus are heat recovery systems, self-closing taps, low flush water systems and the use of FSC certified timber.
Completed the rollout of the electronics patient record system to current and all future sites to reduce paper.
Contribute towards recently validated parent group (Specsavers) Net Zero Science Based Targets (SBTi). Will include transition from spend based carbon reporting to volume based.
Supplier engagement to understand their carbon reduction plans. Work together to reduce emissions from purchased products and services (Scope 3).
Continue to encourage the use of re-usable instruments and scrubs for surgery.
Engage with Independent Healthcare Provider Network (IHPN) Net zero group to learn and share ideas with fellow members.
Carbon Reduction Projects planned in 2025/26
We are taking the following additional actions in the coming year to move us towards our net zero targets:
Our clinics have half-hourly smart meters, for monitoring electricity consumption. We will use these to understand how we can reduce energy consumption across the portfolio (Scope 2).
We continue to install LED lighting and controls as standard and install heat recovery systems to reduce mechanical heating and cooling requirements (Scope 2).
In 2025 we will work with our key suppliers to collect their carbon emission footprint data. This data will allow us to understand and measure improvement over time as we collaborate on initiatives to reduce our environmental impact (Scope 3).
We’ve successfully consolidated and awarded our waste management services to one values-driven supplier which allows us to ensure compliance with waste regulations, and to achieve our ambition to be zero waste to landfill by 2030. Our clinics will be transitioning to this new provider during the coming year (Scope 3).
We understand that, despite our progress, we need to continue to accelerate to meet our Net Zero ambitions, particularly working with our supply chain to reduce packaging content, especially in high volume lines such as cataracts.
Declaration and Sign Off
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance and reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans.
Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard [1] and uses the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting [2].
Scope 1 and 2 emissions have been reported in accordance with SECR requirements, and scope 3 emissions, (including the required subset), have been reported in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard [3].
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and approved by the board of directors of New Medical Systems Ltd. Trading as Newmedica.
Rebecca Lythe - Managing Director
Date: 26th June 2025
1 https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard
2 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-conversion-factors-for-company-reporting
3 https://ghgprotocol.org/standards/scope-3-standard
Patient stories
I can’t fault the service at Newmedica. It was amazing. Everyone was so helpful, the surgery was so quick and efficient.
Joan’s story
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‘I love cooking, and now I can actually see what I’m doing in the kitchen again. Suddenly I’m able to cook my older recipes with the family.
Karen’s story
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I had a first-class experience and can’t praise the team enough. I have worn glasses for a long time but my sight is so clear and sharp.
Allen’s story
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