North 1 PCN is committed to making sustainable changes across all our practices in line with the NHS’s commitment to delivering net zero health service by 2030. All our practices are signed up to the NUS/RCGP Green Impact for Health Toolkit and have successfully gained multiple awards for sustainable changes!
What are we doing to be more sustainable?
Our key areas of focus for sustainability are:
- Embedding environmental sustainability into our organisational culture and practices
- Improving our energy efficiency
- Reviewing green procurement
- Sourcing food and drink responsibly and avoiding use of plastic where possible
- Reducing waste (including increasing recycling and food waste disposal)
- Promoting sustainable transport (such as cycling or walking)
- Purchasing sustainably
- Reducing our use of paper
- Reducing prescribing where clinically appropriate
- Implementing the NUS/RCGP Green Impact Toolkit
- Supporting health and wellbeing of our staff
Embedding environmental sustainability into our organisation
- Sustainability is one of our core values
- We ask staff to reflect on how they have helped sustainability as part of our appraisals and interview process
- We regularly ask our staff to feedback ideas for improvement
- We work collaboratively with Islington Borough to improve our goals of net zero
Sourcing food and drink responsibly
- Commitment to sourcing Fairtrade / local / healthy refreshments when possible
- Avoiding food products that do not use sustainable palm oil
- Reducing single use plastic
Reducing waste and increasing recycling
- All paper recycled
- Recycling plastic bottles
- Recycling of other materials, including cardboard, printer toner cartridges and batteries
- Encouraging recycling of inhalers at certain pharmacies across our member practice’s, you can you’re your nearest recycling point here: Where To Recycle Asthma Inhalers – KnowYourAsthma.com
Reducing our use of paper
- Working towards being a paperless Practices and PCN where possible
- Promoting health education messages to patients via patient information screens in waiting areas, to reduce the use of leaflets
- Setting photocopiers to print double sided by default
- Photocopiers are able to scan and email documents, to reduce printing
- Patient communication uses paperless systems where possible
- Online forms being introduced to website and the use of these to increase
Reducing inappropriate prescribing
Prescribing is a complex and important process of GP practices, we always review high quality low carbon care to help patients as a first priority and reduce harmful emissions in the process
- Where possible, the PCN and member practice’s are reducing polypharmacy and over prescribing to improve care for both patients and the planet
- Reducing prescribing of opiates – we are working with patients to review their opiod use and reduce where possible
- Reducing prescribing of over the counter medicines
- Where appropriate, switching prescriptions for inhalers to dry powder inhalers