Climate change poses a major threat to our health as well as our planet.
Our aim is to improve people’s health, yet carbon emissions and pollution generated by healthcare has the opposite effect.
Nationally, the NHS is responsible for four per cent of national carbon emissions and 40 per cent of emissions from the public sector.
The NHS has set two targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions. Net zero is when the amount of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) produced by human activity in the NHS is completely negated through a combination of reducing emissions in the first place and, to a lesser extent, removing emissions from the environment.
The NHS net zero targets are:
- Reduce the emissions we control directly (the NHS Carbon Footprint) net zero by 2040. In Greater Manchester our target is by 2038 in alignment with GMCA.
- Reduce the emissions we can influence (our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus), to net zero by 2045
Health services in Greater Manchester have an important part to play in this!
Primary care is responsible for 25 per cent of the NHS carbon footprint and, with its close contact with patients, clearly has a powerful role to play in delivering this important ambition.
The critical nature of the planet’s health requires urgent action, with health and wellbeing impacts already being felt in the UK and abroad. Professor Sir David King, former government Chief Scientific Adviser, said in 2021: “I believe that what we do over the next five years is going to determine the future of humanity for the next millennium.”
Achieving the necessary reductions in emissions will require action in all areas of our lives:
- Personal level actions – like eating less meat or flying less
- Organisation level actions – through ensuring we deliver care to our patients in the most sustainable way
- National level actions – holding government and corporations to account through things like letters and petitions
Primary care staff should also recognise that their voice is also a trusted voice in society, which we can and should use to explain the health effects of the climate and ecological crisis, as well as the benefits of action.
If you have any stories you’d like to share about sustainable action you’re taking within your primary care workplace, we would love to hear from you: nhsgm.sustainability@nhs.net
What is sustainable healthcare?
The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare defines it as: Sustainable healthcare delivers high quality care without damaging the environment, is affordable now and in the future and delivers positive social impact.
When reviewing a system, or healthcare procedure, the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare recommends considering the triple bottom line.
The framework of the four pillars of sustainable healthcare can broaden our thinking about how to approach the topic.
- Prevention
- Patient empowerment
- Lean care systems
- Low carbon alternative
By incorporating sustainability into quality improvement projects, we can drive incremental change towards a more ethical, sustainable health system.
E-learning
Do you feel you want to know more, or find out how you might get started? There is an introductory e-learning module on E-learning for Healthcare (ELFH), which includes some great examples at the end. How about making it part of your staff training package?
There are other modules about:
Greater Manchester Primary Care Sustainability Group
A multidisciplinary group has been set up to support primary care sustainability in Greater Manchester. Since the formation of NHS Greater Manchester, this group now reports to the Greater Manchester Green Plan Oversight Group.
Seven initial sustainability workstreams were identified through workshops run with the support of the GP Excellence programme and locality commissioners.
- Inhaler prescribing
- Communications and engagement
- Staff and patient travel
- Primary care estate
- Procurement
- Social prescribing
- General prescribing (non-inhaler)
Tackling inhaler prescribing has been a key starting point for the team, as it forms a large part of the footprint of the NHS, is amenable to action, has PCN targets attached to it, and we have the tools for monitoring impact. Further work is underway focusing on patient and staff travel, and further developing the ‘10 Step Plan for Greener Primary Care’.
Greater Manchester Green Plan
Given the pivotal role that Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) play, each system has a green plan based on the strategies of its member organisations and overarching system goals.
Workstreams of the Primary Care Sustainability Group have fed into the creation of the NHS Greater Manchester Green Plan 2022-25
Work to deliver this plan is underway across the system through the Greater Manchester Green Plan Oversight Group.
Coming soon…
- Healthier Greener Travel toolkit – a web-based tool for staff and patients to consider options for sustainable travel
- Education on sustainable healthcare in primary care through the Greater Manchester Training Hub
- Updates to the Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board Sustainability pages to cover more actions across all primary care pillar providers, and highlight the benefits of sustainable action to patient and staff wellbeing
