Taunton Deane West PCN Supporting 'Green Impact for Health'
Taunton Deane West PCN alongside its GP Practices are supporting the 'Green Impact for Health' initiative.
The RCGP’s Green Impact for Health (GIFH) Toolkit and Awards
Primary care contributes 23% of the NHS's carbon footprint. NHS target dates to achieve net zero carbon emissions are 2040 and 2045 (for scope 1 and 2 sources of emissions respectively).
For NHS green targets to succeed there must be improved dissemination and implementation of best practice achieving net zero carbon emissions, sustainability and high quality care in general practice.
Green Impact for Health is delivered by Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) and general practice volunteers led by Terry Kemple (Past President RCGP, and past RCGP national representative for Sustainability, Climate Change and Green issues). The programme is designed to provide practical advice and tips to general practices across the UK, that want to improve their sustainability.
The free online toolkit helps General Practices in the UK make better decisions for the climate and ecological emergency. The NHS is responsible for 4-5% of the UK’s carbon footprint. This toolkit can help your general practice improve your sustainability, reduce your harmful impact on planetary health, adapt to the risks of climate change and reduce your practice expenses. The toolkit focuses on all areas of sustainability and answers the question – ‘What can you do in your practice?’
What are the main benefits for practices?
- Increased environmental sustainability,
- Cost savings
- Improved staff morale, learning, and efficiency
- Contributing towards the NHS Greener plan
See how Frome Medical Practice manage their sustainability.
What are the criteria in the toolkit?
The toolkit lists over 120 actions that can improve the environmental sustainability and quality of any general practice as well as saving money. The toolkit gives the reason for the suggested actions and gives tips about how to make the change. Practices can get points and awards for their achievements.
You can get an overview of all the 2025 criteria by viewing and downloading the summary spreadsheet. After you have registered and logged into the toolkit you arrive at the Dashboard page. Click on the toolkit icon in the top left-hand menu. In the toolkit page click on the green spreadsheet icon (next to the printer icon) in the top right-hand menu. This will download all the criteria and information on a spreadsheet. There are 100 points each in the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond categories and 20 points elsewhere so the total number of points is roughly 420.
How are practices audited for awards?
You can submit your toolkit on the platform whenever you are ready, and will receive a student-led audit. Our next submission deadline is 30th September 2025.
You can submit your toolkit at any time until, but won’t have an audit until after the deadline. This supports SOS-UK’s improved monitoring and evaluation process to capture impact, and the social value of working with students. If your practice has special circumstances, we can consider assessing your submission and making an award outside of this student audit schedule.
The Green Impact for Health toolkit was started by GPs in Bristol in 2014 and is a continually improving resource. The toolkit includes all aspects of general practice sustainability and carbon emissions. In May 2024 there were 1700 (of 10,000) UK practices using the toolkit with about 50 new users registering each week. The toolkit has >120 specific actions (what to do?) to take in general practice with associated explanations or evidence of the reason to act (why do it?) and helpful information to make each easier to achieve (how to do it?).
The toolkit in itself is a SusQI project (sustainable quality improvement). 20% of the criteria are clinical and for the direct benefit of patients.
In 2024 over 6 million patients were reached through their registered practices, and over 8000 actions were put into place.
Important clinical achievements include improved asthma care of patients with reduction in the carbon footprint of their inhalers.