Hello!
We are evaluating the carbon footprint of our team's structured medication reviews for a large cohort of frail people living in care homes (we see about 1500 residents a year) and eventually hoping to come up with a guide for GPs and geriatricians on deprescribing including clinical rationale, carbon impact, and financial cost. We have used the Yewmaker tool so far to calculate carbon impact, which is fantastic, but there are a few commonly deprescribed medications we are missing.
In particular does anyone have the carbon footprint of fentanyl/butrans patches?
Can I check that we aren't trying to re-invent the wheel? (has anyone else started this work?)
And finally - is anyone interested in joining us?
Thanks so much!
Hi Sarah,
You may find some helpful ideas/insights from our medicines waste in care homes project, though this focussed on processes associated with medication waste, not prescribing itself.
https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/activity/medicine-waste-in-care-ho…
I'm not aware of a carbon footprint for fentanyl/butrans patches. In projects we support at CSH we often use the DEFRA SIC 2022 GHG emission factor for pharmaceuticals which is 0.240 kgCO2e per £ spent. This is only suitable for reductions in medicines, not comparisons. You can see common emission factors in our carbon footprint guide - downloadable from the Measuring Impact section of this webpage: https://www.susqi.org/templates
Best wishes,
Rachel
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