The public healthcare services and sustainability are inextricably entwined. As you Health care provider our responsibility is not only to treat illnesses, but to address their causes such as climate change and improve the health and wellbeing of our patients and staff by building a healthier future for all.
We have enrolled on the Green impact scheme to reduce our carbon footprint as a practice and operate within a framework of pro-sustainability and social responsibility. This scheme has been designed by a collaboration of GP’s and sustainability professionals specifically to aide GP surgeries to achieve a reduction in environmental impact and to enhance their sustainability. With an estimated 10,000 GP surgeries across the UK, pro-sustainability actions made by Practices like ours can make a real difference. Research suggests that the NHS contributes around 3% of the UK’s annual carbon footprint, producing more carbon emissions than those emitted by all the planes at Heathrow airport.
Some of the changes we are making include:
- Encouraging the use of social prescribing
- Encouraging staff and patients to cycle or walk to the surgery
- Facilitating the recycling of old inhalers via the GSk scheme in local pharmacies
- Reducing waste within the practice.
