Members of Psych SusNet, with the support from the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare have written an Occasional Paper for the Royal College of Psychiatrists titled: Sustainability in Psychiatry. It is being launched today on NHS Sustainability Day 2015.
Vanessa Cameron, CEO of RCPsych, who has been a crucial player in bringing about both this Occasional Paper and this focus on sustainability in psychiatry says that “the Royal College of Psychiatrists is committed to improving the sustainability of mental health care in the UK. We are delighted to be publishing “Sustainable Psychiatry” which is a key document setting out the principles of sustainable health care and what this means for mental health service delivery today.”
Sustainability is a new concept for psychiatry. It looks at how services can be more responsive not only to economic factors but also to environmental and social factors. Mental health care needs to continue providing clinically effective interventions, but to determine whether they are acceptable to patients and public, affordable for the NHS and responsive to the dwindling planetary resources requires a fresh focus on sustainability. This Occasional Paper explains how embedding the principles of sustainable health care can lead to services that are more person-centred and fit for the future. It provides an account of the carbon hotspots in mental health and what we need to do to reduce these aspects of care. It also provides several case studies of what sustainable models of care look like.
I hope you enjoy reading the paper…
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