What are UK health organisations doing to tackle the climate and ecological emergency?

Today, the 'Climate change and health scorecard' was published, the first known peer-reviewed study to compare the green credentials of UK health organisations. 11 of 28 invited UK health organisations, representing a total of 236,859 health professionals, participated in the study, and included prominent medical Royal Colleges, the General Medical Council and the Faculty of Public Health. 

Organisations were asked to outline their institutions actions across the following four domains: internal operations, education and training, divestment, and advocacy. The highest score was obtained by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, followed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Dr Alice Clack, CSH Sustainable Quality Improvement Education Fellow and co-author of the climate change and health scorecard, said:

“Participating organisations are commended for engaging with the survey, and the scorecard was able to highlight some areas of strength. However, the need for further progress was clearly demonstrated, and the hope is that the scorecard will act as a template for organisations to work together to embrace their role in the future of sustainable healthcare.” 

4 ways CSH can help health organisations incorporate sustainability into their programmes:

1. The SusQI Academy: Provides organisations with support to help them embed sustainability into their QI education and practice by training key staff to become SusQI leads. It is available to those working within health professions education and/or in quality improvement, service transformation and health service delivery.
2. Sustainability Fellows and Scholars: CSH can partner with NHS bodies and specialty organisations to create and manage Sustainable Specialty Fellows and Scholars. They will be supported by a range of in-house resources including training courses and materials, web-based networking tools, online case libraries, and a sustainability in quality improvement (SusQI) toolkit.
3. Courses in sustainability, health and healthcare: We have a variety of options available to organisations interested in booking courses to train their staff. These include block booking discounts, commissioned courses and a board-level workshop in Leadership for Sustainable Healthcare
4. The open-access SusQI Educator pack: This free educator pack has been made available for educators and QI supervisors to use to teach SusQI in all settings. CSH has carefully developed downloadable learning material which is ready for use by educators, and can be adapted or customised.

Alongside this, SusQI Beacon Site Recognition can be applied for by institutions and organisations that integrate or are aspiring to integrate sustainability into quality improvement education and training. This distinction demonstrates their leadership in empowering faculty and/or students to design and implement sustainable quality improvement and transformation.