Following the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS) sustainability pledge, RPS published the new policies in time for COP26 and will formally launch at a webinar event. OHBP steering group member and co-founder, Sharon Pfleger (NHS Highland), acted as an Expert Advisor for RPS – guiding and reviewing the developments of the Sustainability Policy.
Find out more here: https://www.rpharms.com/recognition/all-our-campaigns/policy-a-z/sustainability#introduction
RPS has committed to tackling the climate and ecological emergency. Climate change is the most significant health threat modern society has ever faced: it affects clean air, safe drinking water, food and shelter – and it will also lead to increased demand for healthcare services and medicine accessibility.
Medicine prescribing is the most common medical intervention in modern healthcare – but medicines account for about 25% of carbon emissions within the NHS.
This policy deliberately focuses on reducing the environmental harm from medicines, rather than the wider climate and ecological emergency. As experts in medicines, pharmacists have a professional responsibility to take a leading role in reducing the environmental impact of medicines use.
Significant research and stakeholder engagement was undertaken to identify key priorities for how pharmacy teams can respond to the climate and ecological emergency.
The four sustainability policies are:
- Improving prescribing and medicines use
- Tackling medicines waste
- Preventing ill health
- Infrastructure and ways of working
Read about the policies here: https://www.rpharms.com/recognition/all-our-campaigns/policy-a-z/sustainability/policies
A recording of the webinar launch event is available here: https://www.rpharms.com/rps-login?returnurl=%2fresources%2fwebinars%2frps-climate-change-and-sustainability-policy-launch#