Coalition offers tools, proposals for mitigating health care’s carbon footprint
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A U.K. coalition of health care companies and agencies is working to reduce the environmental impact of health care, including diabetes management, according to a speaker at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting.
Fiona Adshead, MBBS, MSc, chair of the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition, a partnership created by the National Health Service (NHS) in the U.K. to address some of the most pressing sustainability issues in global health care, discussed the coalition’s goals and suggestions for mitigating the environmental impact of health care.
“Perhaps unintentionally, as health care systems, we contribute to over 4% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, but we also know we have the solutions,” Adshead said during a presentation. “In fact, many of the opportunities to improve people’s health can also be good for the planet, renewable energy can also be good for human health. There are a lot of opportunities for change.”
In 2022, the NHS announced its intention to become the world’s first “net zero” health care system by 2045. However, meeting this goal will require an effort from many stakeholders. About 62% of the NHS carbon footprint comes from medications, medical equipment and other supply chain items, Adshead said.
“It’s really important to think about how we include environment alongside other choices for patients,” Adshead said. “Around their own health and their health outcomes and costs, environment needs to be at the heart of those decisions.”
Health care and carbon footprint
To measure the impact of health care pathways on the environment, the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition launched the Care Pathways Carbon Footprint Calculator. Available online at shcpathways.org, the calculator estimates the carbon footprint of a clinic through estimated patient travel, general practitioner consultations, emergency department visits, surgical procedures, inpatient bed days and self-management.
The coalition has also conducted case studies to attempt to measure health care’s impact on the environment. One case study combined health economic data with environmental impact data to assess the environmental-personal health trade-off of increased use of pharmaceuticals for managing type 2 diabetes and decreased complications. Researchers estimated that during 1 year, the impact of poorly controlled vs. well-controlled diabetes was 7% more emissions through car travel for clinic visits, blood glucose testing, medicines and foot care.
“By the time you magnify that impact up across a country like the U.K., the impact is very big,” Adshead said.
The coalition created a general practice carbon calculator for identifying and managing nonclinical emission hot spots.
New ways to reduce environmental impacts
Adshead discussed several ways the health care industry can further reduce its carbon footprint, such as digital interventions that potentially reduce environmental impacts along with reducing costs and improving patient outcomes; preventing certain conditions, like preeclampsia during pregnancy, to reduce hospital stays; and investigating ways to design and run low carbon footprint clinical trials.
In addition, the health care community should increase recycling, such as through an ongoing program for people with diabetes to return insulin pens from Novo Nordisk to a local recycling bin, Adshead said.
Reducing the carbon footprint of health care can be accelerated if more people and groups come together to collaborate, understand the barriers to change and be willing to try out new approaches, Adshead said.
“If you bring people together that can solve the system’s problems, you can find not only a common purpose, but you can learn from what clinicians and patients are doing,” Adshead said. “If you start with the problems that are occurring in services daily, you can really release energy for innovation.”
Collapse
Adshead F. S32. Presented at: European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting; Sept. 19-23, 2022; Stockholm (hybrid meeting).
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts