November sees the publication of an important and essential book for primary healthcare providers wanting to navigate the challenges of the climate crisis. Entitled Environmentally Sustainable Primary Care, it has been written by around 30 experts and has a substantial section on dentistry.
The book examines the role and responsibility of primary care, covering the impact of the climate crisis on GP and GDP practices, community pharmacy, and optometry. It sets out the steps providers should take to operate more sustainably and includes anecdotes, successful projects, guidance and suggestions and is illustrated with examples from real-life experience supported by published evidence.
The two authors of the chapter on dentistry have the best possible credentials. They are dentists Davinder Raju, founder of Greener Dentistry Global, the sustainability programme and accreditation scheme, and Ciara O’Kane, specialist advisor for sustainability at the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The revised CQC regulatory framework has five key headings: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-Led and the new quality statement on environmental sustainability sits under the heading ‘well-led’. CQC Inspectors may also consider how providers are adapting to climate change within the quality statement ‘Safe environments’ and within ‘Governance, management and sustainability.’
Dr Raju said that the lessons he had learned from setting up his own environmentally friendly practice had been condensed into the chapter he had co-written with Dr O’Kane. “Ideally, our chapter should be a prelude to a more rigorous approach, for instance following the online programme on the Greener Dentistry Global website (https://greenerdentistry.global).”
He added: “While in the immediate future, assessment of environmental sustainability is limited to NHS trusts and Integrated Care Systems, it’s only a matter of time before all providers registered with the CQC will be inspected to ensure they are reducing the impact of their activities on the environment.”
Also covered in the book:
- Eco-anxiety among both the general population and specifically across healthcare staff is highlighted with advice and guidance on maintaining hope and positivity and redirecting frustrations into positive action.
- The greenhouse gas emissions from running the practice – from finance to energy; from travel to goods; from waste to ‘green IT’ – are covered with advice on how to simultaneously improve financial stability and reduce environmental harm.
The book is available at https://www.routledge.com/Environmentally-Sustainable-Primary-Care-Good-for-the-planet-good-for-practices-good-for-patients/Sawyer-Tomson/p/book/9781032793573
Notes:
- The book’s editors are: Dr Matt Sawyer, a former GP, current Director of SEE Sustainability (www.seesustainability.co.uk ) and a Carbon Literacy trainer, UK, and Dr Mike Tomson, a former GP (clinically retired), a medical educator, coach and a Trustee for Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, previously Director of Greener Practice CIC, UK.
- 2) The chapter titles are 1: Primary Care and Planetary Health. 2: Dentistry. 3: General Practice. 4: Optometrists and Opticians. 5: Pharmacy. 6: Planetary Health in a GP Surgery. 7: Achieving Appropriate Investigation, Prescribing and Treatment. 8: Lifestyle Medicine. 9: Sustainable Quality Improvement. 10: Estates and Energy. 11: Travel and Transport. 12: Procurement of Goods and Services. 13: Air. 14: Water. 15: Land. 16: Finance. 17: Behaviour Change. 18: Working Across Organisations. 19: Managing Eco-Distress. 20: Turning Intentions into Action.
