Sustainable Primary Care 

Welcome!

The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) is a registered charity working since 2008 to help the health sector move toward environmentally sustainable healthcare practice. We are the world's foremost institution for sustainable healthcare research and practice. Our team draws on knowledge and experience from public health, clinical practice, environmental consultancy, research and public policy. Over the last decade, we have explored methodologies and metrics to transform models of care. We work with key partners inside and outside healthcare systems to engage professionals, patients and the wider community in understanding the connections between health and environment, and to reduce healthcare’s resource footprint. We support moving the net zero target for CO2 emissions to 2030.

For more information about our work see here.

The CSH has worked in close collaboration with Greener Practice to create this learning module. Greener Practice is a network of primary care professionals working to enable primary care to take action and achieve more environmentally sustainable healthcare. The group aims to be a useful hub of resources on sustainability as well as developing and coordinating groups to enthuse and engage our primary care community in action towards environmentally sustainable healthcare. If you haven't already please sign up by emailing greenerpractice@gmail.com.

Course Description

This course is specifically tailored to health and social care staff working in primary care and offers an overview of the relationship between health, the health sector and the climate and ecological crises. How is the health system both vulnerable to and contributing to climate change and ecological degradation? What would a sustainable health system look like? What might the wider benefits be and how can we achieve this? The course also highlights the leadership role healthcare staff can play in providing healthcare for all within planetary boundaries.  

The course provides an overview of the field for primary care staff at any level who are new to, or wish to learn more about, sustainable healthcare. The training helps you understand why sustainability matters, how to ‘green’ your practice (using real world case studies) , and offers tips and tricks for implementing sustainability improvements. This course is an excellent foundation for those who wish to develop their skills further in the technical (carbon footprinting and SusQI) courses.

Sustainable healthcare delivers high quality care without damaging the environment, is affordable now and in the future and delivers positive social impact. Primary care is a huge contributor to the overall NHS carbon footprint, with the largest emissions coming from pharmaceuticals. Those working in General Practice are trusted sources of information, community members and run responsible small businesses. We show how sustainable changes often have huge co-benefits for patients and staff.  Primary care staff have the power to reduce their practice's environmental footprint whilst improving care quality.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course you will be able to:

1. Describe the risks the global environmental crisis presents to human health and healthcare systems.
2. Describe the contribution of the health sector, particularly primary care, to the global environmental crisis.
3. Explain how sustainability can help to address existing challenges in the healthcare system.
4. Identify carbon hotspots and understand the basic principles of carbon footprinting.
5. Apply the principles of sustainability to primary care.
6. Plan a sustainability project in your workplace.

Course Structure 

The course is divided in to two parts

Part I. Self-study online - Interactive online materials covering all course content, illustrated with case studies, presented in bite-sized modules.  The course is flexible to your interests and available time; a condensed version can be completed in under 2 hours using the module summary pages,  whilst the full course contains 8 hours of more in depth study. A discussion forum allows you to reflect on your learning and share thoughts and ideas with fellow learners.  A short video on the home page outlines how to navigate the learning platform and obtain your certificate of completion. The learning materials are available to you from the point of booking and for 6 months after your workshop date. You can see a table of contents for the self study materials here.

"It was informative and easy to understand and follow. Having everything laid out so clearly -- a mixture of text. diagrams, graphs, videos helped bring it to life and keep concentration. It really helped me consolidate my knowledge and feel prepared for the workshop". 

“Amazing depth of information and resources”  “Bitesize chunks so easy to dip in & out of - v helpful when you have a busy life.”

“I found the material really interesting and it gave me a much better understanding of the scale of the issues.”

Part 2. Live workshop online - The 4 hour virtual workshop consolidates your understanding of the course materials and then focuses on helping you develop ideas for a sustainability project in your setting; translating your learning into action through small group discussions with CSH experts and colleagues from around the world using the range of resources and tools. A separate certificate of completion is provided for the workshop. 

"I liked that the discussions were grounded in projects and tying into areas we can immediately effect and apply into our work".

“Getting to speak to like minded people, hearing from those with experience and learning about their journey, inspiring and gives me the kick to make changes at my practice”

“Networking with peers who are interested in making changes to how we practice to incorporate planetary health and are also GPs.”

Part 3. Mentoring

"Inspirational and reassuring to hear everyone else’s actions and sense of urgency. On a practical level, I feel more knowledgeable on where to aim my work for greater impact and have been directed towards lots of useful information sources and initiatives" 

What future do we choose?

Human health is inextricably linked to the health of the earth’s natural systems, which create the air we breathe, the food we can grow, the proliferation of diseases and much more. This complex set of relationships is sometimes referred to as ‘planetary health’ and is increasingly recognized as a critical perspective in health improvement and protection.  Since 1980 global greenhouse gas emissions have doubled, and human activity has removed about half the wild birds, mammals, fish, invertebrates and insects on our planet. The health implications of this are clear, and terrifying, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic starkly demonstrates this. Individuals, organizations, and movements across the world have called a climate emergency to respond.  There is a huge amount to do and we are all needed. There are many important ways to make a difference and this course is a starting point for this exploration.

To kick off, we invite you to enjoy this evocative 2 minute video poem What Future Do We Choose?

 

Acknowledgements

This course could not have been written and designed without the support of the Royal College of General Practitioners Climate Emergency Advisory Group (RCGP CEAG), the Greener Practice network, and Dr Tamsin Ellis who coordinated and designed it. Huge thanks to those who contributed and reviewed the course material: 

Course authors: Dr Tamsin Ellis (GP; NE London RCGP climate and sustainability lead; Chair Greener Practice London), Dr Georgie Sowman (GP; physical health champion for NE London; Co-founder NHS Ocean), Dr Mike Tomson (Retired GP; medical educator), Dr Aarti Bansal (GP; Founder, Greener Practice), Dr Vasandhara Thoroughgood (GP Colchester; RCGP Essex Climate Emergency & Sustainability Lead), Dr Matthew Sawyer (GP; Director, See Sustainability), Dr Rumina Önaç (GP; RCGP Yorkshire Faculty Sustainability Lead), Dr Terry Kemple (RCGP National Representative for Sustainability, Climate Change and Green Issues; Lead, Green Impact for Health Toolkit; UK Health Alliance for Climate Change), Dr Jen Young (GP trainee; CSH intern 2021), and Costas Visiliou (Clinical pharmacist). 

Course contributors: Dr SanYuMay Tun (GP; medical educator), Dr James Smith (GP; Asst Director of Public Health Studies, University of Cambridge), Karen Creffield (Practice Manager, Frome Medical Practice), Dr Shireen Kassam (Consultant Haematologist; Lifestyle Medicine Physician; Director, Plant-Based Health Professionals UK), Dr Honey Smith (GP; Chair Greener Practice), Dr Joe Barron-Snowdon (Junior doctor, Bath), Alexis Percival (Environment and Sustainability Manager, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust), Dr Richard Hixson (Consultant in Anaesthesia and Critical Care County Durham and Darlington NHS; Co-founder of NHS Ocean; CSH Trustee), Salih Hassan (Lead Acute Admissions and Respiratory Pharmacist, North Middlesex Hospital), Dr Liliana Risi (GP; Provost RCGP North East London Faculty), Toby Capstick (Consultant Pharmacist, Respiratory Medicine, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust), Dr Emma Radcliffe (GP Tower Hamlets), Dr Mark Tyrrell (GP, Senior Partner Crondall New Surgery, Green GP Environmental Champion), and Kiana Mostaghimi (medical student)

 

 
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