CleanMed Europe conference: Pathways to Sustainable Healthcare
Oxford, September 17th- 19th 2013
A message from Rachel Stanfcliffe, director of the CSH:
We would like to invite students and trainee doctors to take an active part in our sustainable healthcare conference later on this year. As well as being the future and having an interest in what happens to both healthcare and our health as humans, you are also faster at learning and more open to new ideas than many who are already embedded in the healthcare system.
The narrative for this conference is simple. Sustainability is a journey from where we are now to where we want to be.
This conference aims to change the way people think about sustainability and healthcare. We want to move away from sustainability as an add-on or a way of simply saving money with boilers, clever recycling and more insulation. We want sustainability to become a mainstream way of thinking about healthcare systems, with all healthcare professionals understanding the urgency of acting now to minimise the serious health effects of climate change, and inspired to make the most of the co-benefits between good health and a healthy environment.
Free places and logistics
We would like to use the conference to bring together a group of about 10 students and junior doctors who are already committed to sustainability or are interested in learning how they can become more involved. This will be in return for some help with communications and social media and some logistical support.
We are also offering 10 student places at £120 each (this is for the full 3 days; you can share your place with someone else if you cannot make the full time, though we encourage you to stay for as much as possible). This is a European conference and will be an opportunity to meet experts in sustainable healthcare as well as top level healthcare professionals, researchers and industry representatives who are working in sustainability.
You will need to seek funding elsewhere for travel and accommodation (approximately £20/night for 2 nights, Tuesday and Wednesday – the plan is for student delegates to stay in a local hostel as a group, coordinated by representatives of Healthy Planet, who will be helping us with selecting the group and with briefing and supporting successful applicants prior to and during the conference). Your medical school or deanery may well be able to support you in this respect if you write to them, but if this is not the case we will endeavour to help you find other sources of funding or to find you accommodation with someone living in Oxford. There will be a social programme in the evenings to get to know the other student delegates, reflect on the ideas and topics covered and do some work on comms & social media for the conference.
More about the Conference (see also www.cleanmedeurope.org)
The conference will showcase examples of the positive way that sustainability can transform existing systems for the better, challenge perverse incentives that may be produced by some current ways of financing healthcare, and demonstrate how sustainability can help us to think more creatively about efficient use of resources within healthcare systems or pathways.
The programme extends from changes to existing healthcare systems - in buildings, energy, lighting, water, waste and procurement – to engaging healthcare professionals and patients in new models of care. On the final day the scope of discussion will be extended to the potential for healthy food, green space, community cohesion and other dimensions of sustainability to contribute to better healthcare as well as disease prevention.
There will also be some student-oriented workshops, focusing on subjects such as integrating sustainability into medical education (linked to an ongoing project happening at many medical schools).
How can you apply?
Apply via the form at http://www.healthyplanetuk.org/cleanmedeurope-info-application.html or send an application statement covering the same points by email to healthyplanet@medsin.org by June 25th. This should cover some background about yourself and what stage you’re at, why this is an area that interests you, any skills or relevant experience you feel you would bring, and what you might like to do after the conference related to sustainability in healthcare in your own setting.
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