As part of the Yorkshire and Humber Future Leaders Programme, a medicines sustainability project was undertaken with the North East and Yorkshire School of Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation (NHS England WT&E).
A survey of pharmacy staff working in the North East and Yorkshire was carried out to scope staff understanding of environmental sustainability generally and in relation to pharmacy practice, and the barriers and enablers experienced when implementing sustainability into pharmacy practice. 122 responses were received from across the region, from both registered and unregistered members of staff and across sectors.
- On a scale of 1-10 (1 being not at all important and 10 being extremely important) environmental sustainability was ranked an average of 8.2 in importance.
- 86% respondents thought that environmental sustainability was a healthcare issue.
- 93% respondents wanted their workplace to be more sustainable.
- 75% respondents wanted to be involved in sustainability work in their team.
- 50% respondents felt supported to undertake environmental sustainability activity at work.
Top enablers identified - personal interest, supportive employer, sustainability in guidelines/policies.
Top barriers identified - lack of time competing clinical priorities, lack of knowledge or skills.
This was followed up with five semi-structured interviews to further explore the barriers and enablers found when implementing environmental sustainability into pharmacy practice. These interviews suggested that degree of autonomy over work and current workload pressures affect ability of staff to be involved in environmental sustainability work. The interviewees also suggested that making actions practical and showing measurable benefits from environmental sustainability projects can help enable more staff to be involved with environmental sustainability work. They highlighted that good clinical pharmacy can have environmental sustainability benefits but it is not always viewed with this lens.
This project has shown a conflict between short-term and long-term priorities in practice - environmental sustainability work is currently seen as something that is nice to do, rather than something that’s essential to do. However, climate impacts are already being felt so it cannot continue to be viewed in this way. This project scoping opinions of front-line pharmacy staff, shows that staff care about environmental sustainability and want to be involved in environmental sustainability activity at work, but find it difficult due to workload pressures, system priorities and limited autonomy over activities. Employees, employers and system leaders must be equipped to create an environment where environmental sustainability can be embedded into practice. This will require an understanding of sustainability and its benefits and co-benefits, as well as a comprehension of feasible practical actions and inclusion of sustainability in day-to-day tasks.
Please log in or sign up to comment.