Green Impact Award
The Wooda Surgery Green Impact Award: Silver success, Going for Gold!
At the Wooda Surgery we acknowledge the climate emergency affecting our planet. We recognise the relationship between environmental sustainability and the health of patients and society. Making small but significant steps to improve the health of our local environment and patient population is our aim in contributing to planetary health.
The Green Impact for Health scheme follows a structured approach to taking these steps. It aligns itself with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals plan. In 2020 we completed enough of these measures to achieve a Silver Award, and we are hoping to complete enough for a Gold Award when we have accumulated enough proof to our auditors.
Examples of these measures that we are addressing include:
- Referring to our trained Social Prescriber who has established links with local support groups, including outdoor opportunities for patients eg use of the allotment
- Addressing fuel poverty in vulnerable patient groups
- Using dry powder inhalers in preference to aerosol equivalents
- Using low volume aerosol inhalers in preference to high volume ones
- Promoting self management of selected illnesses e.g. COPD and diabetes
- Promoting a whole food plant based diet
- Closely monitoring energy and water use
- Promoting recycling, including of kitchen waste to the allotment compost heap
- Double sided photocopying and printing where deemed necessary
- Addressing potentially harmful polypharmacy for patients on 7 or more medications
- Using OpenPrescribing to identify and publish prescribing priorities
- Avoiding single use plastics in the workplace where possible
- Taking part in the TARGET antibiotic stewardship scheme and auditing our prescribing performance
- Measuring practice carbon footprint
References
https://www.greenimpact.org.uk/giforhealth
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
