With climate change the biggest global health threat of this century, health professionals across Wales are taking an oath to ‘do no harm’ to the planet.

The challenge:

• Healthcare sector being a large emitter of greenhouse gases
• Climate emergency is also a health emergency
• Health care professionals passionate about change not connected or supported

To take action on health, both our own and the planet’s, doctors in Ysbyty Gwynedd formed a Green Group, a support group for discussion and action where people could share knowledge, develop skills and envision local sustainability projects at the hospital and beyond.

Green initiatives were being carried out in isolation in healthcare departments across Wales, but there was nothing that existed that brought all this work together.

Now, building on Ysbyty Gwynedd Green Group’s work, doctors, nurses and pharmacists have created an all-Wales network, Green Health Wales.

The network is committed to delivering healthcare in Wales that maximises positive health outcomes, avoids financial waste and harmful environmental impacts and adds social value at every opportunity.

Green Health Wales has three principles:

• Connect – bringing people together across the health sector to create sustainable change
• Learn – developing skills and sharing knowledge so everyone learns about the impact of climate change and how we can act on it
• Transform – understanding the important cyclical effect of change (people protect the planet, planet protects people)

People protect the planet, planet protects people

A healthcare movement for change

With a holistic approach, Green Health Wales is focusing on building connections and convening people committed to action.

Recognising that a commitment to sustainable healthcare can rely on people taking on extra work despite already struggling with rigid schedules and 70 hour working weeks, the network is a platform for people to support others on the same journey.

Some of the action that has already been supported by the network includes:

• A litter picking project involving patients at Cefn Coed Hospital, a mental health hospital in Swansea, supported their well-being through access to green spaces and educated patients on the importance of caring for the environment.
• Ysbyty Gwynedd was the first hospital in Wales to take steps to partake in a re-usable mask pilot, collaborated with Magnificent Meadows and NHS Forest to restore meadows and plant trees with mental health patients, and created active travel guides with info on safe routes to the hospital and available storage facilities.
• Cardiff and Vale University Health Board have reduced the environmental impact of anaesthetic gases by 90% through switching to a cheaper alternative.
• Cae Felin Community Supported Agriculture, based on Morriston Hospital’s land, grows vegetables for the community and involves staff, patients, schools and community groups to garden and learn more about the impact of climate change on our health and spaces.