Acting responsibly: Sustainability at Helios
Offering more advanced medicine for more and more people – acting responsibly is a top priority for our company. In order to meet the challenges posed by sustainability in our era, we intend to develop effective concepts, raising awareness for protection of the environment, climate, resources, and social aspects, and involving our employees in the process.
Our understanding of sustainability
As a healthcare company with around 360 healthcare facilities across Germany, we bear responsibility for the health and well-being of many thousands of people every day. Our aim is to provide the best possible care for each and every one of them – from routine to complicated operations, from prevention to preparatory consultation and surgery, through to inpatient and outpatient aftercare. We always want to meet the highest medical standards – while at the same time operating within an increasingly regulated landscape.
In our quest to live up to these aspirations, we attach great importance to ensuring the premium quality of our medical treatment. Transparency, diligence, and expertise are key attributes in all areas. Our objective is to deal openly with errors and to cooperate together to avoid their occurrence.
Alongside transparency, we regard a culture of lifelong learning as the foundation for our future-proof capability. We address global megatrends like climate change, digitalization, urbanization, and demographic change by analyzing and critically assessing technical developments and innovations. This approach is intended to assist us in setting up new methodologies in the course of day-to-day clinical practice, and implementing new technologies in order to develop our provision in medicine and service. This is our pathway to being better at meeting the needs of our patients.
Pioneering for our sustainability activities: ESG logic
Our understanding of sustainability is based on the three ESG sustainability dimensions (Environmental, Social, Governance) and thereby covers environmental, social and issues relating to responsible corporate governance concerns.
Environmental
There is a close connection between a healthy environment and human health. We believe that health protection is based on consistent environmental and climate protection. That’s why we are carrying out intensive work on establishing what more environmentally friendly, resource-conserving hospital operations might look like in the future.
Social
Premium medical care and safety for our patients are our top priority. Equally important are their subjective satisfaction with their care and the service we provide.
Our employees provide our patients with excellent medical care and thoughtful attention throughout the day and night. This is why we do everything in our power to offer our employees a job that they can identify with and that motivates them to develop individually and within their teams.
Governance
As operators of hospitals and medical care centers, we carry a great mantle of responsibility toward society. So that we can live up to this responsibility, we consider ethical and legally compliant behavior to be a foundation stone for all our activities. We have therefore established strict compliance rules and rigorously pursue any violations of them. Our view is that being incorruptible and acting independently are of paramount importance.
The future viability of Helios depends on our ability to play a proactive role in the transformation of the healthcare market. Faster communication, more efficient administrative workflows, and innovative use of patient data – all these factors contribute to the quality of care for our patients and the productivity of our hospitals. We continually focus on the evolution of requirements for data protection and information security.
Our sustainability management
Across all levels: Our sustainability management
Helios sustainability structure
The CEO of Helios Germany, Robert Möller, is responsible for the topic of sustainability within the company. He is in charge of overarching concepts relating to sustainability and he is supported in the implementation of these concepts by the Helios Sustainability Board and the Sustainability Office. The Helios Sustainability Office simultaneously works closely together with the sustainability team at Fresenius SE.
The Helios Sustainability Board meets every two months. It discusses, considers, and takes decisions on measures and projects relating to sustainability. Alongside the Helios management team and the Helios Sustainability Office, the permanent members of the Board include the experts from the Central Services Procurement and Logistics, Compliance, Hygiene, the Infrastructure Business Unit, and a Medical Consultant.
At the level of the hospitals, the hospital’s own sustainability teams have an important function as the operational interface:
- They implement the decisions of the Sustainability Board,
- independently develop the sustainability activities on the ground, and
- regularly share successful projects on a dedicated network with their colleagues so as to make them available to other hospitals.
Dedicated energy teams are responsible for energy management at the hospitals. These ensure the robust implementation of processes such as certification in accordance with ISO 50001 and draw up the binding energy reports necessary for that at hospital level.
All employees at Helios are also able to present proposals on the topic of sustainability to the staff unit at any time. Since 2023, we have saluted the commitment of our employees at the hospitals with the Helios Green Awards – an award for special sustainability projects, and for the biggest energy-saving achievement in the hospitals.
Sustainability as a non-financial success goal
We strive to sustainably enhance the awareness and sensitization of employees for environmental protection throughout the entire organization. Since May 2023, ESG goals have therefore been part of the compensation system for members of the Management Board of Fresenius Management SE. The focus for Short-Term Incentives (STI) is on the topics of medical quality / patient satisfaction and employees. The reduction of our CO2 emissions is included in the appraisal of members of the Management Board with respect to the Long-Term Incentive (LTI).
Further information on the ESG methodology and on the determination of target attainment is published on the website of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA.
Helios Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
In 2023, we analyzed the United Nations 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) under the leadership of the Sustainability Office. The aim of the in-depth analysis was to identify which of the goals Helios can make the biggest contribution to and how these targets can be addressed in our sustainability strategy.
The Helios Sustainable Development Goals
Representatives of the management team, the hospitals, and Central Services analyzed and prioritized the goals. They identified the SDGs 3,4, 8, 10 and 13 as being central for Helios and defined these targets as the starting point for additional measures. On the basis of these five SDGs, Helios developed a wide range of projects in 2023 which have been implemented since the start of 2024.