Sustainability is a serious issue and as such we wish to do our part as a PCN to take care of the environment.
So far, we as part of the North Arden PCN have distributed re-usable water bottles amongst our staff members and provided them with fleeces made from recycled materials, cold water filters and hot water boilers to reduce the need for electricity and heating in our practices. Along with the sustainability section of our PCN website advising patients on what they can do to help, these efforts earned us the Green Impact Bronze award in 2023.
For 2024 we changed to sensor taps, lights and energy efficient bulbs, encouraged methods to reduce wasted paper and resources, brought in recycling bins across our practices, changed the suppliers of our ink toners and drums so that they can be recycled and have supported the use of green prescriptions (eg, referrals to Fitter Futures and supporting ARRS roles).
Our PCN also promoted menstrual cups as these are reusable reducing the impact of disposal of towels, tampons etc to combat period poverty and to aid sustainability. This was done by putting posters in female visitor toilets. These efforts have earned us the green Impact Silver award for 2024.
To view our current awards please click on the links below:
Going forward we intend to earn the gold award. To do this we are interested in the use of energy monitors to understand the energy being used in practice. Our PCN will also be adding a section to their website about period poverty and further advertising the use of re-usable period products and looking into the sustainability of our buildings.
To help our efforts progress we are encouraging our clinicians to undertake some or all of the methods below:
- Review inhaler prescribing – Clinicians are being encouraged to review their inhaler prescribing for patients, where it is appropriate to do so. Pressurised metered dose inhalers (such as Salbutamol or Ventolin) account for 70% of inhaler prescribing in the UK, which accounts for 3% of the overall NHS carbon emissions – the single biggest medicinal contributor to the NHS emissions (Asthma UK, 2023). Change of inhalers, where appropriate, can improve Asthma control for our patients through improved inhaler technique, whilst having a positive impact on the environment.
- Encourage patients to recycle their inhalers and blister packs – instructions and recommendations on how to do this can be found in the sustainability section of our website.
- Patients are also being encouraged to utilise the insulin, weight management and hormone injection pen recycling schemes offered by Sanofi and Novo Nordisk.
- Reduce the number of unnecessary letters sent out of practice – this can be done by utilising services such as AccuRx to contact patients. We also encourage clinicians to have patients come into the surgery to collect blood forms rather than wasting the extra paper in envelopes to post them out.
- Ensure that all windows and doors are closed (if possible) when heating is on.
- Ensure double sided printing and copying where appropriate.
- Reduce the number of unnecessary prescriptions through the facilitation of Structured Medication Reviews for some patients.
- Encourage staff to use Ecosia (https://www.ecosia.org/) as their web browser rather than google or other similar browsers. Every four times we use Ecosia they have pledged to plant a tree, helping our environment.
Help us protect the environment and earn the gold award for 2025.