The NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has commended the work of the Bishopthorpe and Copmanthorpe-based Old School Medical Practice Group, who have signed up to the national sustainability project ‘Green Impact for Health’ which focuses on cutting GP surgeries’ carbon emissions and becoming more environmentally friendly.

The ‘Green Impact for Health’ is run by the Royal College of General Practitioners and has been designed to help general practice reduce their environmental impact, for example by increasing plastic recycling, whilst also reducing their practice expenses.

The Old School Medical Practice Group run a green blog on their website (https://www.osmp.co.uk/blog), which covers their journey towards improved sustainability and shares ideas about how our reliance on plastic can be reduced – such as only purchasing recyclable plastic spoons and syringes that accompany paracetamol products.

The Practice is due to receive a bronze award for their work in the spring, and are encouraging other GP practices across the Vale of York to sign up to the ‘Green Impact for Health’.

Dr Rumina Önaç, Project lead at the Old School Medical Practice Group said: “We embarked on this journey after realising the NHS's impact on the planet; it produces more carbon emissions than all of the planes leaving Heathrow airport. We have really enjoyed working out creative ways to maximise the health and wellbeing of our patients and staff whilst reducing our carbon footprint, and would encourage other practices across York to sign up to the ‘Green Impact for Health’ project to improve our corner of the world in this climate emergency."

Dr Andrew Lee, Executive Director of Primary Care at the NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group said: “It is brilliant to see one of our GP partners making such good progress in improving their sustainability. We should all be doing more to reduce our impact on the environment, and I commend the Old School Medical Practice Group for being proactive in taking these important steps.”

More information about the ‘Green Impact for Health’ can be found here https://www.greenimpact.org.uk/GIforHealth/

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