Redmoor Health case study
Date posted: 2nd May 2024
Moving towards net zero through digital
NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (LSC ICB) in partnership with Redmoor Health delivered a programme of education and advocacy to enable general practitioners to work towards delivering a more sustainable service. The programme was structured initially to establish the level of understanding of the NHS Net Zero agenda within GP services and to enhance and develop this knowledge for general practice partners.
What was the issue?
The NHS has set a target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040. The issue focused on in this case study was a lack of understanding about the levels of sustainability awareness within general practice and how best to support GPs to adopt and embed sustainability in day-to-day delivery.
What action was taken?
- A baseline questionnaire to understand awareness of the net zero agenda was disseminated to practices within the ICB footprint. In total 64 responses were received. The results showed a lack of awareness in how sustainability translates into general practice and a lack of knowledge about terminology related to climate change or the contribution of suppliers to the primary care carbon footprint. There was a lack of sustainability champions within practices and no focus on active travel for staff. However, some of the responses showed awareness of the link between climate change and health and a move towards optimising digital processes. Practice premises owned by third party landlords make changes to the estate particularly challenging when staff are looking to reduce emissions through heating or lighting.
- Three GP practices were chosen for more in-depth analysis with sustainability specialists and the general practice professionals. Common challenges found were: capacity (lack of time, IT, waste management, buildings, research time); resistance to change from staff and patients and fixed price contracts with providers.
- A series of 5 webinars were provided to practice staff: ‘An Introduction to Net Zero in General Practice’. Hosted by sustainability expert GP, Dr Matt Sawyer, with different highlight topics for each session (Energy use in practice, Transport – staff and patients, Emissions from goods and services, Clinical footprint and Creating a practice plan).
- Creation of the Beta Net Zero Journey Planner module: Starting the journey to Net Zero. This is a self-assessment module, broken down into four sections (Energy, Travel, Goods & Services, Medicines) to allow staff to build a practice action plan for the short, medium, and longer term.
- A green champion training programme was designed to engage nominated staff to produce sustainable action plans and implement change.
- Five practices were trained to deliver Video Group Clinics (VGCs). The aim was a reduction in staff and patient travel to rural areas of Lancashire and South Cumbria, adopting a one-to-many model.
What was the Delivering a Net Zero NHS benefit?
In terms of Video Group Clinics, the pilot revealed a 17kg CO2e aggregate emission savings for the two practices who returned the carbon emissions forms. The green champions training feedback from staff found the session to be incredibly engaging and informative with case studies displaying how practice teams who were previously apprehensive with beginning their decarbonisation journey more confident with where to start (Beechwood Surgery Case Study).
Likewise, we now know the specific challenges that several practices experience when looking to scale up their sustainability efforts, these can inform wider policy and can kickstart some conversations at ICB level about how best to tackle the climate crisis through the eyes of general practice staff.
What are the wider benefits?
- Reducing carbon footprint in turn reduces pollutants and so has a positive impact on respiratory and other medical issues.
- By reducing carbon emissions at GP practices, along with the energy savings there is also a cost saving benefit.
- Reducing waste in primary care generates capital savings.
- Practices adopting remote working by using Video Group Clinics will be able to further reduce emissions by avoiding the travel to surgeries. VGCs also offer significant clinician tine savings, plus cost savings – an average GP appointment costs the NHS £30 for a 15-minute appointment (NHSE&I, 2019). VGCs enable 6-8 patients to be seen in 60 minutes.
- Collaborative working, with sharing of ideas across practices and between green champions and good engagement with the local community are further benefits to be gained from the programme.
Resources
To support practices with their decarbonisation journey, we developed a supplier questionnaire to aid practices in choosing low carbon goods. Alongside this, this programme developed a significant store of sustainability and net zero resources.