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  • The climate crisis: Are we bothered? A blog from Angela Hayes


    Angela Hayes
    • UK
    • Blogs
    • New
    • Health and care staff, Patient safety leads

    Summary

    We should be! The NHS has declared climate change a health emergency, but are trust leaders and healthcare staff talking and acting on this? In her second blog for the hub, Angela Hayes, Clinical Lead Sustainability at the Christie Foundation Trust, discusses why as healthcare professionals we have a duty to care, to protect and promote public health, and why nurses are ideally placed to deliver this vital climate emergency health message.

    Content

    The impact of climate change on public health is extensive (see diagram from the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare below) and has been declared an ‘emergency’. The climate crisis threatens to undo the gains we made to public health over the last 50 years and threatens the lives of millions. It impacts on the most vulnerable members of society – those who contribute to global warming the least and who are least resilient to its effects. 
     

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    Avoidable deaths are happening now – we’ve seen the devastation caused by the recent floods in Pakistan, and the ongoing famine in Somalia means thousands face starvation. Both these are directly attributable to global warming. The climate emergency is literally on our doorstep and we have to act now – not in the future. We have to act in response to an emergency. 

    As healthcare professionals we have a duty to care, to protect and promote public health. Our nursing unions agree and, as the most trusted profession for the 20th consecutive year, nurses are ideally placed to deliver this vital climate emergency health message.

    Working in a greener way should be an integral part of every nurse’s role – not just a job for some bloke in the Estates Team who’s changing a few old light bulbs and installing recycling bins!

    Sustainable ways of working clinically comes in many forms – from prescribing to reduce unnecessary pharmacological waste, to general dietary health advice to our patients (cutting down on meat and dairy is the most effective way an individual can reduce their own carbon footprint – by up to 70% and is great for the pocket and the waistline). Metered dose inhalers have a terrible carbon footprint, as do some anaesthetic gases. In my department, we’re exploring the use of a light-source treatment for cancer patients having chemo and radiotherapy – which maintains the mucosal lining and prevents the need for complex pain management, prolonged feeding regimes and, ultimately, hospital admissions.

    Living and working greener is just generally better all round – for our health and that of our planet. And if by looking after our planet our own health improves, then it’s win-win!

    What can you identify in your clinical practice to reduce waste and cost and help meet the Net Zero targets? Because it’s only by working together, that we’ve a chance of meeting them!

    We would love to hear what you and your trust are doing about sustainability and climate change. Is this something you've discussed at work? Share your good practice and ideas in the comment field below.

    Further blogs from Angela

    About the Author

    Angela is a Clinical Nurse Specialist employed within Specialist Supportive and Palliative Care at The Christie Foundation Trust in Manchester. She has a background in Intensive Care, Management and Teaching. She leads on Corneal Donation and Advanced Care Planning in her Trust.

    Angela is also a Climate Change activist – both at home and in work. She is passionate about the environment and getting the health message out to other healthcare professionals – presenting on this subject both inside and outside her hospital. Carbon Literate, and one of 4 Carbon Literacy trainers, she leads on Clinical Sustainability in her Trust.  

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