Aarti Bansal and Grant Blashki: Six steps to both greener and better primary care (15 December 2020)

Summary

Most primary care clinicians are well aware that the climate crisis is a health crisis and of the immediate and significant health co-benefits of climate action, such as through reduced air pollution. However, when it comes to taking action, in our experience many clinicians do not make the link with clinical practice. This is perhaps a result of extrapolating from actions to reduce one’s personal carbon footprint in areas like energy, waste, and transport. Yet, the majority of general practice’s carbon footprint results from clinical activity.

In this article, Aarti Bansal and Grant Blashki focus on clinical practice and outline six practical steps that primary care can take towards sustainable healthcare that align with evidence-informed and person-centred practice.