In October 2020, the NHS became the world’s first health service to commit to reaching carbon net zero, in response to the profound and growing threat to health posed by climate change. The “Delivering a Net Zero Health Service” report set out a clear ambition and 2 evidence-based targets.
Climate change poses a major threat to our health as well as our planet. The environment is changing, that change is accelerating, and this has direct and immediate consequences for our patients, the public and the NHS.
This section is part of our support to the Greener NHS programme and their effort to reduce the environmental impact on public health and the environment, save money and reach net carbon zero.
The Carbon Literacy for Healthcare elearning is comprised of five elearning modules that cover climate science, impacts and policy, before focusing on climate change and health and effective climate communication. Each module concludes with an assessment to test your knowledge.
The Carbon Literacy Project offers everyone access to a day’s worth of climate change learning, certifying successful participants and organisations, and their learning and action, as Carbon Literate.
This programme is available on the NHS Learning Hub.
Carbon Literacy for healthcare – elearning for healthcare (e-lfh.org.uk)
We are currently in a climate emergency – this affects every facet of our lives, including healthcare. In this introduction to sustainable healthcare, we will discuss the carbon footprint of primary care and the opportunities to reduce our emissions in both the short and the long term.
This course aims to educate GPs about how we can improve asthma outcomes whilst reducing the carbon footprint of inhaler prescribing. It will outline opportunities to improve patient disease control and optimise inhaler device prescribing and will signpost to step-by-step quality improvement tools to implement this work in practice. For GPs based in England, completing this course will support achievement of the Investment and Impact Fund criteria on respiratory care and sustainability from April 2022 – April 2024. Much of the information about greener inhaler choices also applies to patients who use inhalers for other reasons, e.g. COPD.
The 2020 report “Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service” committed the NHS to becoming the first health service in the world to achieve carbon net zero. General practice can reduce the environmental impact of delivering care. This course will help you identify emission hotspots and the actions needed to reduce the non-clinical carbon emissions.
The GMC’s ‘Good medical practice’ which sets out the standards of patient care and professional behaviour expected of all doctors in the UK, across all specialties, career stages and sectors, has been updated.
This 10-point plan has been developed by the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB alongside primary care colleagues, to help guide practices to reduce their environmental impact in line with the NHS’ net zero ambitions.
https://www.lancashireandsouthcumbria.icb.nhs.uk/GreenerNHS/primary-care/net-zero-resources
The NHS Forest team at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare recently worked with Forest Research to develop a groundbreaking report on the monetary benefits of trees and woodland on the NHS estate. Read more.
The risk to public health arising from the climate crisis is clear.
Sustainability in healthcare is a priority and we recognise the connection, relevance, and impact on human health and the practice of individual medical professionals. That is why in Good medical practice 2024 we set a specific duty that medical professionals should choose sustainable solutions.
In this resource, GMC answer questions on how this could apply, suggest ways to practise sustainably and signpost to organisations that show how this is being done.
