Christmas message

Dear Psych susnet members,

This is a Christmas message to you all. I would like to say a big thank you to you for signing up to this network, engaging with this important agenda and for your continued commitment. Christmas is a time for reflection and a space to think about those who don’t have the same health and security we do. The injustice of climate change is that those who least contribute to it are most affected by it. This year, many people around the world have had their lives drastically changed due to the damaging effects of climate change, with likely serious mental health consequences at times too. Standing up against this injustice is vital.

We in psych susnet can and will make a difference. By starting to engage with the environmental consequences of our actions as health care professionals, we are starting the process of accountability. A poet said that “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible”. This is very much the case in the NHS. But we in this sustainability network are facing up to the fact that we can change our practice to reduce the environmental consequences of our actions. Creating a focus for sustainability will lead to clinical transformation where not only environmental costs are reduced but financial costs are too. We are currently planning to develop a sustainability policy for the RCPsych and we are beginning a journey towards providing a sustainability commissioning guide. These two reports should really help the process of improving sustainability within mental health services. The crucial work though, is making improvements to the day-to-day clinical work that we all do. This is where our challenge lies as members of psych susnet. We need to work this out together. What are the new ways of working, that reduce the environmental impact and that reduce burden on services? If you have any ideas, maybe think about how you could start up a project for NHS sustainability day on March 27^th 2014. 

I’m looking forward to the New Year and the things we are going to do. There are plans for a sustainability summit at RCPsych in the autumn too. It is going to be an interesting year!

Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas.