Thought you might be interested in this letter I am sendign to medical directors of NHS trusts within our ICS. We desperately need resource to deliver on our brand new ICS green plans! I am lucky enough to have 0.5 PAs for Climate action. Of course it is not enough but it is something. Am hoping that the the ICS will pay for my time too - a work in progress. We need to keep advocating for the funded time to take this through, for senior leadership but also local fellow roles which include climate action in the job plans.
We need to keep pushing our execs to keep climate action as a top priority. Our trust is facing an additon energy of £3M, so this makes my ask of a few more hours of my time and 2-3 days a week of a nurse of clincial fellow to progress QI projects in carbon reduction and sustainabilty a drp in the ocean. This is a good time to ask! Go for it.
helena
Hi Clare, to be honest I think it was a combination of relentless pushing and a forward looking relatively young exec team who could see how climate change would impact on their own children. I gave the whole exec team a copy of There is no planet B too! I have given about 400 copies to colleagues, students freinds and family. Using every way I can to influence.
Of ocurse 0.5PAS is only 2 hours a week and i probaly spend about 4-8 hours a week dependign on what is going on. But this is my choice. My 2 hours are formal , offical and senior hours and highly significant.
I am raising the need for clincial resource at every opprotunity as the 60% carbin footprint associated iwth consumables, medcines etc are directly associated with our work as clincians.
At the moment i am tryign to get funding to sit alongisde fixed term non trainig posts ( possible OOPE) which includes some clinical time and some work on climate action. This might help us to recruit to the tricky areas. Better than agency spend too. There are not enough posts centrally via RCPCH or Centre for sustainable healthcare so we need to create these locally.
Our trust is facing a £4M hike in electrciy costs and so the cost fo a couple of days of clinical sustainabilty work could start to stack up.
Hope this helps. Keep at it. !
Thanks, this is really helpful and your enthusiasm has obviously paid off. Will go off and try to channel some of this! Thanks