Anaesthetists are making progress in reducing their impact on the environment. Dr. Paul Southall, an Elected Council Member of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Environmental Advisor to the College, provides an insight into how the specialty is striving to ensure the NHS meets its Net Zero ambitions.
When the NHS announced its ambition to become the first carbon Net Zero national health system by 2040, I, like many other doctors, applauded the commitment but was somewhat daunted by the scale of the task.1
Climate change and air pollution are already having an impact on our health. According to data released by the UK Health Security Agency, in 2020 heatwaves caused more than 2,500 deaths in the UK.2 Warmer temperatures will make the British climate more hospitable to mosquito based diseases, such as dengue and West Nile virus.3 The Mayor of London's office released research from Imperial College London that found, in 2019, toxic air contributed to the premature death of approximately 4,000 people and, in a global first in 2020, the death of a 9-year-old girl from South London was ruled by a coroner to be a direct result of air pollution.4
Clearly, climate change is a real and present danger to public health, which is why reducing our carbon emissions must be taken as an essential part of NHS services.
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