Posted on: 5 May 2023
Three Climate Change Fellows are embarking on their projects as part of the Improving Population Health Fellowship. This includes Costas Vasiliou (pictured below) who is supporting the year one implementation of the West Yorkshire Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Green Plan.
Medicines are the most common healthcare intervention and make up a high proportion of the NHS carbon footprint. Costas will be looking at how the actions being delivered are reducing the environmental impact of medicine use and creating more sustainable pharmacy practice.
Those actions includes using low carbon options for respiratory care where it’s best for the patient, reducing medical waste and unnecessary antimicrobials, sustainable procurement, integrating digital solutions and promoting recycling opportunities. For example, PenCycle, a recycling scheme for pre-filled Novo Nordisk pens used for diabetes and weight management treatments.
The fellowship post will also help to keep track of activity, understand any gaps in data, share best practice and encourage take up of initiatives across the pharmacy community.