Dr Tamsin Ellis, a GP in London and co-chair of Greener Practice, explains practical steps practices and clinicians can take to help tackle the climate crisis – and the benefits for GPs, staff and patients of doing so.
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We need national guidance for clinicians on the inclusion of air pollution on death certificates, argue Laura-Jane Smith, Mike Tomson, and Kath Brown
Air pollution is often framed as a modern problem, but as early as Roman times it was understood that polluted air affects human health. In AD 61, Seneca wrote of Rome “No sooner had I left behind the oppressive atmosphere of the city and that reek of smoking cookers … than I noticed the change in my condition.”1 In AD 535, emperor Justinian declared clean air a right of all humans: “By the law of nature these things are common to mankind the air, running water, the sea.”2 But it took until July 2022 for the United Nations to declare access to a clean and healthy environment a universal human right.3 In the UK, the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill, also known as Ella’s Law, is a private members’ bill which would enshrine in law a right to clean air. At the time of writing, the bill is awaiting its second reading in the House o
The General Medical Council’s (GMC) updated guidance, Good Medical Practice , is a disappointing missed opportunity to embed sustainability as a core focus of medical practice.
Following extensive consultation, which received more than 4,600 responses from across health professionals, patients and carers, the updated guidance includes very little reference to sustainability. Two duties have been added under a new heading on managing resources effectively and sustainably. This does not go far enough.
The climate crisis is a health emergency, and health workers have a duty to be educated, informed, and knowledgeable about the impacts on their patients and the public, and on the important changes that will be needed to the way in which care is delivered.
In May this year, the World Meteorological Organisation warned that global temperatures are likely to exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels within the next five years and …