RPS joins health leadership bodies to launch health and climate manifesto

Key Summary

• Health leaders want greener prescribing to cut the NHS’s carbon footprint
• Medicines waste and emissions are in focus ahead of Scottish elections
• Clear data, funding and education are key to making care more sustainable

Ahead of the Parliamentary elections next year, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), The Royal College of GPs (RCGP Scotland), and health professional leadership bodies across Scotland have launched a new manifesto for health and climate.

It aims to encourage a nationwide movement for sustainable prescribing across Scotland with a focus on reducing environmental impact of the medicines, responsible for 25 per cent of carbon emissions in the NHS.

The manifesto calls for an urgent shift to electronic prescribing programme, ensuring specific funding for primary care to improve sustainable medicine disposal, and enable green prescribing initiative.

It also wants the public to be informed about these environmental impacts though a in a standardised data format.

They also want the government to work with Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) to publish information of environmental impacts in their guidelines and the necessity to ensure support for prescribers on these topics by education providers are also mentioned in it.

British Dental Association in Scotland, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Royal College of Anaesthetists, Faculty of Public Health and The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, are the bodies that have endorsed the manifesto.

“I am delighted that we have published our Manifesto for Health and Climate today, ahead of the Scottish elections taking place in May,” said Laura Wilson, RPS director for Scotland.

She said, “It is vital that the next Scottish Government works with health professional leadership bodies and Royal Colleges to tackle medicines waste, enable green social prescribing initiatives and increase the amount of information available to allow more sustainable prescribing decisions to be made.”