South West Clinical Senate Council: Climate Change

At the last South West Clinical Senate Council meeting climate change and the NHS was discussed and a report with recommendations has been published. Find out more here.

Climate change was proposed by South West Senate Clinicians who requested that the Senate Council consider the responsibility of the healthcare system to respond to climate change and explore the concept that climate emergency is a healthcare emergency.

A number of healthcare organisations within England have declared climate emergencies in the last 3 months and NHSEI is expected to publish a climate change action plan imminently. A dual expectation therefore of these recommendations was that independent clinical advice informing these action plans would be welcomed and that the South West might be able to establish itself as an early implementer of those changes identified.

In developing these recommendations, the Clinical Senate brought together the Sustainability Development Unit (SDU), regional sustainability leads, CCG and provider leads, Royal College input, PHE and Pharmaceutical expertise, to present evidence and suggest how the NHS can mitigate against climate change.

The report gives key recommendations under group headings, which are as follows:

  • Travel
  • Estates 
  • Workforce
  • Anaesthetics
  • Inhalers
  • Organisations
  • Digital
  • Procurement
  • Inpatient Providers

Specific recommendations are then made under each of these headings.

Downloads

You can read the report in full below.

Climate Change - South West Clinical Senate - Final Recommendations
* The report and the content for this article have been written by the South West Clinical Senate

You might also be interested in