Practicing more sustainably in your practice/PCN
Why is change needed?
During The Big GP Consultation, we heard strongly from our participants there was a desire
to practice more sustainably and be advocates on climate action.
They recognised that NHS makes up 5% of the UK’s carbon emissions (that’s more than the
aviation sector) and primary care makes up about 20% of the NHS carbon footprint. We, as
doctors in primary care, have a responsibility to do no harm.
In order to act on this effectively, participants felt that they needed tools and resources in
order to support them on their journey for change.
You can read more detail on this in the The Evolving Role of the GP: Society and the
Environment section of the Final Report.
How can I change this?
Before you can have an impact on sustainability, it is important to have an
understanding of how climate change affects health, and how the NHS has can
impact on climate change.
The Greener NHS website hosts their ‘Delivering a Net Zero report’ outlines how
the NHS plans to get to Net Zero. It’s worth having a flick through and getting
familiar with the different areas of the NHS’s overall plans.
You can also try the first of these free 30 minute e-learning for health modules
which have been developed by Greener NHS and the Centre for Sustainable
Healthcare. These introduce you to the topic and show some case studies on
how this can be achieved in practice. Once you have developed this baseline
understanding, you can then start to put this work into practice. As a GP or GP
Trainee, you are in an excellent position to introduce this topic to others in your
practice.
You can also get information on climate change and health from this excellent
RSM lecture series which gives a comprehensive overview of the impacts of
climate change on health.
How can I get started?
Many practices/PCNs host weekly or monthly meetings that bring together all
members of staff working in this organisation. This is a great opportunity to talk
about sustainability within your team. You may wish to give a presentation
explaining the impacts of climate change on health, where the hotspots are in
General Practice, and how we can play our part.
Find out which areas your team wants to focus on first, which will depend on the
team’s priorities and interests. Identify who your allies in the practice might be
and what your and their interests are.
A great place to start is by signing your practice up to the Green Impact for Health Toolkit,
with the permission of your practice manager and partners. This is an awards based set of
actions starting with some easy suggestions.
It can help to do an initial assessment of the baseline carbon footprint of your practice. This
GP practice-specific carbon calculator can help work out where some of the hotspots in your
practice might be.
We also recommend joining the Greener Practice network (completely free!). Greener
Practice is a primary care sustainability network with 27 local groups around the UK, as well
as several national WhatsApp groups on specific topics. There
Our History
These are all steps that The Big GP Consultation Team would be very happy to support you with. Please do email us with a summary of your plans, and how we may be able to help, and we’ll be back in touch with you as soon as possible.
Develop…
…your understanding of the topic.
Join…
…the Greener Practice network to link in with like-minded individuals and find resources and ideas.
Calculate…
…your practice’s carbon footprint.
Formulate…
…your quality improvement project alongside your colleagues.
How could I take this further?
A great next step would be to scope out a quality improvement project, and plan
this with your team.
We particularly recommend having a look at Greener Practice’s Asthma QI
Toolkit, which has some ready-made QI Projects to help improve the outcomes
from asthma alongside reducing the carbon footprint of inhalers – a win-win!