Climate change presents a major threat to global health and will further exacerbate the health inequalities that exist internationally. However, the provision of healthcare results in considerable greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is therefore contributing to climate change itself. Meanwhile, the integration of strategies to address climate change into global health efforts will realise health co-benefits. Meeting the challenging carbon reduction targets set within the NHS will require an improved understanding of the GHG emissions association with different forms of healthcare. This thesis explores the environmental impact of the provision of renal medicine services within the United Kingdom, placing a particular emphasis upon GHG emissions. The approach required, and the opportunities that exist, to reduce the environmental impact of renal medicine services are first explored through a review of the existing literature and a survey of the current practices of renal services in England, Scotland and Wales. A study, adhering to the principles of PAS2050, of the GHG emissions attributable to an individual renal service is then reported. This is the first assessment of the carbon footprint of an individual specialty service to include both direct and indirect GHG emissions. Consideration is given to how the results might inform carbon reduction strategies. Indicative carbon burdens for outpatient appointments and inpatient admissions are derived in order to facilitate future modelling of the emissions attributable to different clinical pathways of care. A second study, in which the GHG emissions attributable to different forms of an individual treatment (haemodialysis) are determined, is then presented. Finally, four case studies of good environmental practice within renal medicine, identified from the earlier literature search and survey, are presented in the context of the results of these studies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:560131 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Connor, Andrew |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/46923/ |
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