By Minna Eii, lead on the RPS Greener Pharmacy Toolkit, Acute Medicine Advanced Pharmacist Practitioner, co-founder of Pharmacy Declares, Chief Sustainability Officer’s Clinical Fellow 2023/24 and Chair of Sustainability at the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists
The idea behind the Greener Pharmacy Toolkit emerged from multiple requests by members of the pharmacy profession to establish guidance for addressing environmental challenges within the field. Medicines contribute to 25% of NHS carbon emissions, and as experts in medicines use, pharmacy staff play a crucial role in reducing this impact.
Sustainable pharmacy practices is more than just reducing waste and carbon emissions; it's about improving overall health outcomes. Climate change has a direct impact on health globally, and by promoting sustainable practices, we can prevent ill health and enhance patient care. The toolkit aligns closely with RPS work on sustainability, recognising the profound impact of climate change on health.
What is the Greener Pharmacy Toolkit?
The toolkit is a free, practical, user-friendly digital self-assessment tool to help pharmacy teams in hospitals and community settings introduce more sustainable practices in the workplace. One example is for pharmacy teams to conduct a simple audit on medicines waste, which not only help alleviate issues with drug shortages and better stock management, but also highlight any patient safety risks where expired medicines might be inadvertently dispensed or reused.
As well as reducing emissions, it can help improve patient care, prevent ill health, tackle medicines waste and achieve efficiency savings. It’s backed by a wealth of expertise and separate versions of the toolkit are available for community and hospital pharmacy settings to promote sustainable practice. The aim of the toolkit is not to quantify overall emissions within pharmacy settings for corporate sustainability reporting, but to reframe what pharmacy staff already do through sustainability lens. Sustainable pharmacy use is the new medicines optimisation.
Levels of accreditation
One of the unique features of the toolkit is its accreditation system designed by frontline pharmacy professionals rather than external carbon consultancies. It outlines three levels - bronze, silver, and gold - based on various actions that pharmacy staff can voluntarily take to make their pharmacies more sustainable. Achieving the target accreditation triggers a certificate, which can be displayed publicly to demonstrate the pharmacy’s commitment to environmental sustainability.
A collaborative effort
Commissioned by NHS England and supported by Greener NHS, the toolkit is open access, available free for use by hospital and community pharmacy teams throughout Great Britain. The stages of accreditation make it the ideal starting point for those who want to reduce their environmental impacts but don’t know where to start, as well as driving improvements for teams already on that journey.
Moving forward
The Greener Pharmacy Toolkit is a real step forward in using technology to improve practice and patient care whilst enabling more sustainable pharmacy services. I’d love to see all pharmacy teams take advantage of this resource and join us in making a positive impact on the environment. Let's work together towards a greener future.
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