Now that the much-feared medical finals are out the way, done and dusted, I have an opportunity to venture into pastures new and spend some time in the form of a Special Studies Module discovering what Sustainable Healthcare is all about*. I seem to have timed my SSM just right (there’s a first time for everything!) to take in Climate Week! Climate Week is all about raising awareness, spreading enthusiasm, and finding a practical outlet for our ideas and energy about how we can make the NHS greener. One focus of all this activity is at Whittington Hospital where a couple of weeks ago, the Green Wards competition was launched. Several wards have been fervently devising and implementing schemes which will cut down their carbon footprint, and these are now in full swing. Judgement day fittingly falls on NHS Sustainability Day (the 28th March). So, half way through the competition, I popped in to check out progress.
First up – theatres. I met with the anaesthetics administrator who explained their strategy to win the £500 cash prize. Theatre one now boasted the first recycling bin in theatre suite! Currently in the form of a large, clear bin liner, it will soon be transformed into one large bin with separate sections for domestic, clinical and recycling waste. Sharps, sensibly, will be kept separate. The aim is to make it as easy as possible to recycle, and so the aim is to place more recycling bins in theatres and the staff room at the expense of the domestic waste bin. There is an ongoing audit to detail the amount and type of waste in the recycling, prior to its introduction throughout the department. Not content with a quick fix, the anaesthetics team have purchased new anaesthetics machines which produce a lesser amount of harmful greenhouse gases.
Next up was Ifor Ward, the paediatric ward. I was very warmly welcomed by the patients who were very keen to show me what they’d been up to! Bywaters (the recycling and waste management company) had dropped off a DVD on recycling for the children to watch, and also some cardboard lorries which children (and staff!) enjoyed constructing. The children had also all made posters on recycling which were to be hung up around the ward. A few days prior, someone had been in to drop off some solar panelled toys for the children to put together – one young patient, who I’d made friends with, showed me his: it was a very impressively designed wooden man on a wooden bike, but unfortunately the great British sunshine had been a bit too shy and so the wheels on the bike remained stationary.
[ibimage==2634==content_image_half_width==none==self==ibimage_float_right]After spending some time on the ground with the troops, I attended several lectures given by some very influential and inspiring speakers. They spoke with enthusiasm and passion – see for yourself by watching the pod cast (I'll post the link as soon as it's available). I have heard the buzz words plastered all over the media, but I now understand the true implications of climate change. I message I took home with me was that climate change is a direct health issue, impacting on our wellbeing in many ways. As protagonists of health, we should care as we have both the knowledge and the power to make a difference. In terms of what we can expect if we don’t change soon, the WHO have written a superb report: http://www.who.int/globalchange/GenderClimateChangeHealthfinal.pdf
Most poignantly, Dr David Pencheon, Director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, made the point of “moral offset”. As healthcare workers, we may feel that we do enough for our world by saving lives on a daily basis, so we don’t need to worry about saving the planet too. A familiar thought…?
Emily Clark, final year medical student, Oxford University.
*Two-week Special Studies Module (SSM) in Sustainable Healthcare, supported by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, Oxford
Image: Prof Chris Rapley, UCL, speaks on "Climate Change: the evidence, the problem"
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