New Green GP Network across the Vale of York
The climate crisis is a health emergency. The NHS produces 5.4% of the UK’s greenhouse gases, but has promised to be carbon zero by 2030 - so we need to crack on!
We are setting up a Green GP Network across the Vale of York to support each other and spread ideas for sustainable healthcare to our teams, patients, and communities.
We’ve discovered that there are actually lots of quick wins that take little or no time, will save money in the long term and crucially save carbon. A framework created by the RCGP called the ‘Green Impact for Health’ toolkit has been designed to help general practice reduce its impact on the environment in areas such as energy, food and drink, prescribing, QI, and learning.
If each practice could nominate one staff member to act as a liaison for the network, they will be emailed once a month only, a brief idea of one easy thing they could try to implement to try to improve their surgery’s carbon footprint. Individual practice’s achievements and ideas could also be shared this way. The idea is absolutely not to overwhelm people or take up time, but to encourage and support positive changes.
Please contact rumina.onac@nhs.net to nominate your practice liaison contact.
See also recent BMJ article: The rise of the green general practice.
Dr Rumina Önaç
Rumina Önaç completed specialty training in York and has been a GP locally for the past seven years. She currently works as a salaried GP and trainer at The Old School Medical Practice where her work on sustainable healthcare recently earned the practice a prestigious award from the national ‘Green Impact for Health’ scheme.
An accomplished musician, Rumina is passionate about the positive health benefits of community music-making and the Arts, and this, amongst other topics, is a regular feature on her eco-healthcare blog: https://www.osmp.co.uk/blog
