June has arrived and this month's green theme is... cycling. Bike Week 2012 is running from 16-24 June this year and it would be great if kidney units could take part. The aim is to encourage colleagues (maybe even some patients) to get on their bikes and remember how much they like cycling!
Two final year medical students in Oxford took part in a two-week special study module (SSM) on “Sustainable Healthcare” in 2011-12. The students each chose to focus on one of the four dimensions of sustainable healthcare identified by the Sustainable Healthcare Education (SHE) Network, and undertook a related project.
I have recently established a display board for patients in my GP surgery waiting room explaining about Sustainability and its relevance to health. The display has ideas for how individuals can become more sustainable as well as healthier. It also has posters from local relevant community projects / groups.
Value in healthcare is a recent concept which is being adopted by commissioners and healthcare leaders to focus on treatments which really make an impact to patients, whilst being delivered in an efficient way.
Costing healthcare is a complex area, and carbon costing is becoming more and more relevant. Read on to find out a little more about how the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare is looking to help commissioners define value in respiratory care.
This is a programme from the NHS Institute which aims to support general practices in realising internal efficiencies, while maintaining quality of care and releasing time to spend on more value added activities. They have incorporated Sustainability into the programme - improving environmental performance, reducing waste in reception, collecting data on running costs which is an good area to make financial and carbon savings.
On the 23rd of March I was lucky to be among a group of respiratory professionals, representatives from primary care, nursing, academic and the pharmaceutical industry as we came together to discuss how Respiratory medicine contributes, and can help to reduce the carbon footprint of the NHS.
The Institute of Health Equity (IHE) is consulting on a draft report exploring actions the Health Workforce can take to positively influence the social determinants of health and tackle health inequalities. Sustainable healthcare is not explicitly mentioned in the draft, and i wondered whether SHE Network members might be interested to respond to the consultation and recommend its inclusion?
Now that the much-feared medical finals are out the way, done and dusted, I have an opportunity to venture into pastures new and spend some time in the form of a Special Studies Module discovering what Sustainable Healthcare is all about. I seem to have timed my SSM just right (there’s a first time for everything!) to take in Climate Week! Whittington Hospital is marking the occasion with a Green Wards Competition, and I popped in to check out progress.
