NHS Highland activists raise awareness of a new wave of water pollution issues – Sharon Pfleger, Public Health Consultant and OHBP Co-founder was interviewed for The Herald’s “100 Days of Hope” campaign in the lead up to COP26. This featured as part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS) editorial page on the environmental impact of healthcare in the face of climate change; and a pledge to ensure that pharmacy is committed to decarbonisation and the promotion of environmental sustainability.
Sharon accounts on the Alliance for Water Stewardship award, and outcomes from the hospital becoming the first public agency to achieve the international accreditation. This includes activity to increase sustainability across the entire NHS Highland board through “greening” the prescription formulary to include environmental impact assessments, and encouraging patient “realistic medicine” choices to discuss with their healthcare provide whether pharmaceutical prescribing is the best healthcare option.
See the full Herald article here: “Royal Pharmaceutical Society has optimistic prognosis for Scotland despite testing times“, Sept 16 2021
The article was published as RPS made it’s declaration on commitments to reduce carbon emissions and increase sustainability within the healthcare sector in the face of the climate and ecological emergencies. According to the RPS: “We are now calling on the whole pharmacy profession to ensure that everyone is committed to sustainability. To accompany our declaration, we’re making a series of proactive commitments to influence change and hold ourselves accountable.”
The declaration outlines how pharmacy can contribute to environmental sustainability and decarbonisation; mitigating the risks; championing and promoting best practice and sharing this digitally; and applying environmental, social and corporate governance to the organisation’s investment and procurement policy.
Follow this link to read more about what the RPS’s three national boards and Assembly have pledged to do in their climate change declaration in collaboration with governments and other bodies across the world to tackle this global crisis.