An update on the trailblazing GreenED programme to mark Emergency Medicine Day

Dr Zoe Steley, EM registrar and co-founding member of RCEM’s Environmental Specialist Interest Group (ESIG), writes an update on the trailblazing GreenED programme to mark Emergency Medicine Day.  

This year, the theme of the Emergency Medicine Day campaign is the impact of climate change on emergency care systems around the world and what we – as emergency medics – should be doing about it. 

A problem this immense and complex is inherently overwhelming to think about. Solutions can seem out of reach, and way beyond the remit of an overstretched health professional just trying to get through another shift. 

RCEM’s GreenED initiative was set up to identify concrete, achievable actions Emergency Department (ED) staff can take to optimise resource use and reduce the environmental impacts of our everyday clinical practice – saving energy, tackling disposability culture, improving recycling, reducing waste and moving to models of emergency care that  are low carbon, sustainable and resilient. 

Since its launch in July 2023, 26 sites in the UK have signed up to the 12-month GreenED programme, participating in monthly catch-ups and working through the Framework with the view to submit for accreditation at Bronze or Silver levels. As of April 2024, this includes every ED in Wales. In parallel, GreenED International is about to be road-tested in NSW, Australia. This will enable emergency medicine (EM) practitioners around the world to get on the same page with environmental sustainability, share challenges and successes, and grow the evidence-base collectively. 

Through GreenED, our specialty is tackling imperative but tricky questions: what does low carbon emergency care within a net zero NHS look like, and how do we get there? Importantly, how do we even begin to make changes when we’re working in systems under immense pressure, amidst a severe burnout and staff retention crisis? Who has the time, or the energy?  

GreenED: a ‘bottom-up’ initiative 

At RCEM, the GreenED team are acutely aware of the necessity of taking a pragmatic approach to environmental sustainability. We are working hard to identify, prioritise and highlight actions that result in significant cost savings, as well as potential improvements for staff and patients. Overlapping wins can often be found in reducing low value care such as unnecessary investigations (e.g. clotting tests), procedures (e.g. cannulation) and treatments (e.g. IV paracetamol or antibiotics where oral forms would be equally effective).  

Climate change is a health emergency, too. To be part of this movement, visit the GreenED website and sign up to our mailing list. Use the Resources Hub to start laying groundwork for when the GreenED programme re-opens again for sign-ups later in the year.  

Through small steps like these, taken together, we can help spark and fuel the systemic global transition that is required to protect our patients, our communities, our loved ones and ourselves – now and into the future.