Building sustainability into every day

30 Oct 2023

In the last edition of our College membership magazine VOICE, we explored the relationship between environmental sustainability and healthcare. In the latest edition of VOICE, Dr Eleanor Murray, consultant nephrologist at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and former College/NHS Scotland Clinical Sustainability Fellow, considers how we can incorporate sustainability into everyday practice.

Below we give a preview of this and College members can view the full article in VOICE by by logging into your online dashboard.

This is not an instruction manual to a sustainable professional life, they are personal reflections from my year spending one day a week focusing on sustainable healthcare. I have taken three broad approaches:

Starting conversations and building networks

We’re all keen to live and work more sustainably. But our best intentions can easily be derailed by overbooked clinics, staff shortages, or any number of competing pressures. When I first started asking colleagues what environmental sustainability activities were happening in our department, the answer was none. But the majority were keen to explore what we could do.

Conversations are the first step. Ongoing conversations keep the momentum going when competing pressures threaten to dampen enthusiasm. Networks facilitate these ongoing conversations: sharing ideas, resources and practical advice, positive reinforcement and motivation.

I found my communities through setting up a departmental sustainability committee, on social media and online platforms such as the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, through a national kidney-care working group, and a cross-discipline committee within my health board. The set up doesn’t matter, so long as the contacts and conversations are there. A College sustainability steering group has also been established, which welcomes ideas and suggestions.

Category: Climate Change