Towards Greener Prescribing in General Practice

This paper explores the challenges faced by general practice in implementing sustainable prescribing. It outlines the actions governments and other relevant bodies across the UK can take to dramatically reduce carbon emissions from primary care, which simultaneously improve patient outcomes and support prevention efforts. 

This paper provides recommendations for policy action to meet these ambitions for tackling carbon emissions and improving patient care, focusing on the following key areas:

Reducing overprescribing and implementing "realistic medicine" and "prudent health" principles.

Expanding non-medical and nature-based interventions.

Reducing the environmental impacts of prescribing.

Supporting general practice to address green prescribing.