Greener Practice
Environmental Impact of the NHS
Climate change is a serious threat to the health of the people and the planet. NHS emissions account for 4% of the total carbon footprint in England. This video explains how climate action improves our health, is better for the economy, reduces inequalities and makes lives better for all earth’s inhabitants.
What is Grassendale doing about it?
We’ve signed up to the Green Impact for health toolkit
What does this mean for the Practice?
We’ll be considering different areas in and around the practice and thinking of ways we can make improvements to reduce our impact and improve our sustainability. Some of the things we’ll be focusing on in the practice are;
➢ Inhaler prescribing
➢ Active transport solutions
➢ Energy efficiency
➢ Social prescribing
We’ll be encouraging staff and patients to think about how they can bring greener practices in to their day to day lives.
We’ll be keeping you up to date with our progress on the website and Twitter.
What have we done do far?
- We are working through the Green Impact toolkit - so far we have completed 32 actions and scored 114 points
- Installed a 5kW solar array and two electric vehicle chargepoints for staff
- Our electricity provider uses 100% renewable sources
- We promote Clean Air Day each year
- Embarked on an inhaler switching programme to prescribe the lowest carbon brands of commonly used inhalers, and are encouraging patients to switch to dry-powder forms from propellant-driven inhalers
- Three members of staff now have battery electric vehicles
- Conducted a staff travel survey to assess whether staff could consider active travel
- We have a commercial recycling collection each week
Why are we doing this?
The key message of the Lancet Countdown report in 2019 summarises why this is important: ‘The life of every child born today will be profoundly affected by climate change, with populations around the world increasingly facing extremes of weather, food and water insecurity, changing patterns of infectious disease, and a less certain future. Without action, this new era will come to define the health of people at every stage of their lives.’
As health professionals we have a responsibility to work in the best interests of all our patients. The climate crisis is the biggest public health issue we are facing and we believe it is essential to make changes in order to work towards a better, healthier future for all.
What can patients do to help?
The Greener Practice website has a lot of information and suggestions explaining what the problems are, and offering some solutions, covering areas such as how the climate crisis affects health, how to check your own carbon footprint, the implications of overtesting (and overtreating), benefits of being in nature, active travel, impact of air pollution, benefits of physical activity, healthy and sustainable diets, inhalers, feminine hygiene products and some good news stories illustrating people who've been able to make some changes.
https://www.greenerpractice.co.uk/information-and-resources/information-for-patients/
