Today, health professional leadership bodies across Scotland - led by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and Royal College of GPs (RCGP Scotland) - have launched a manifesto for health and climate ahead of next year's Scottish Parliament election.

The manifesto focuses on creating a national movement for sustainable prescribing across Scotland's healthcare system to reduce the environmental impact of medications. It is estimated medicines account for around 25% of carbon emissions in the NHS.

The manifesto calls on the next Scottish Government to:

1. Urgently accelerate the electronic prescribing programme, by allocating appropriate resource.
2. Provide specific funding to primary care to improve sustainable medication disposal.
3. Enable green social prescribing initiatives across Scotland including with public messaging.
4. Ensure that the pharmaceutical industry makes information about the environmental impact of medicines readily available in a standardised data format.
5. Work with Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) to publish and disseminate information about the environmental impact of medicines in their guidelines.
6. Ensure education providers support prescribers by including environmental sustainability in education and training for health professionals.

The manifesto is endorsed by: British Dental Association in Scotland, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Royal College of Anaesthetists, Faculty of Public Health and The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Commenting, Director for Scotland at Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Laura Wilson, said:

“I am delighted that we have published our Manifesto for Health and Climate today, ahead of the Scottish elections taking place in May.

“As medicines experts, pharmacists have unique insight into how medicines can be used more sustainably and safely which would not only reduce impact on the environment but also provide better outcomes for patients.

“It is vital that the next Scottish Government works with health professional leadership bodies and Royal Colleges to tackle medicines waste, enable green social prescribing initiatives and increase the amount of information available to allow more sustainable prescribing decisions to be made.

“Although Royal Pharmaceutical Society is leading on this work with our RCGP colleagues, our calls are strongly backed by health professional leadership bodies and Royal Colleges right across Scotland. I thank all of them who endorse this document, which strengthens our collective call to action.”

You can read our Manifesto for Health and Climate in full, here.