Pharmacists and their teams will need to prove they are working towards net zero targets and can provide sustainable pharmacy care, under new plans from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
The UK pharmacy regulator said it will incorporate sustainability in the core standards that it holds pharmacists and pharmacy premises to.
As part of its ‘Carbon net zero action plan for sustainable pharmacy regulation‘, launched this week, the GPhC said it had identified the potential for it to help reduce carbon emissions ‘by positively influencing pharmacy to tackle climate action‘.
The GPhC suggested it could do this ‘through raising awareness, asking questions and including climate-action in our education and CPD programmes‘.
‘We need to ensure that pharmacy understands the risks and opportunities associated with climate change along with the requirements for adaptation to minimise the impacts,‘ the net zero plan said.
The GPhC‘s core standards framework will therefore assess whether pharmacy professionals and the wider team reflect ‘sustainable pharmacy care‘.
The regulator will also undertake a ‘themed review‘ of pharmacy premises and practices to ‘ascertain and promote good sustainable healthcare within pharmacy‘, it said, adding that ‘this review will serve as a proactive approach to identifying exemplary models of sustainability within the pharmacy sector‘.
The strategy also suggested that education and training learning outcomes for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and prescribers in all NHS settings, including primary, secondary, tertiary and community care, would incorporate environmental sustainability.
This will include a key deliverable involving the creation of a platform for sharing good practices in an attempt to identify and disseminate examples of successful sustainability integration.
Through registration and revalidation assessments, pharmacists will need to prove ‘that they are working towards net zero targets and have capability to provide sustainable pharmacy care‘, the GPhC said.
And it said it would work to ensure that its end-to-end fitness to practise process was ‘as environmentally efficient as possible‘.
The net zero plan said this was ‘fundamental‘ and that it would include ‘the integration of virtual hearings and electronic bundles‘, as well as minimising paper usage.
As part of its wider net zero strategy, and with support from stakeholders, the GPhC has identified five priority areas to be targeted to improve pharmacy sustainability. These are inhalers and anaesthetic gases, green pharmacy practice, medicines optimisation, disposal of unused and unwanted medicines and packaging.
Commenting on the net zero action plan, Roz Gittins, GPhC chief pharmacy officer, said: ‘Climate change is a global emergency and has been declared the biggest threat to public health; it poses health risks but also amplifies existing health inequalities, having direct and immediate consequences for patients, the public and health services.
‘As a result, the GPhC is actively engaged in addressing climate change, both as an employer and regulator. Our aim is to positively influence the pharmacy sector to embrace climate action and sustainable healthcare principles in line with our vision to have safe and effective pharmacy care at the heart of healthier communities.‘
The GPhC also set out steps to put its ‘own house in order‘ regarding net zero targets, including collaborating with staff and suppliers to reduce waste and monitoring its energy and water usage.
And it noted that its electrically-powered Canary Wharf offices were selected to encourage active travel and the use of public transport, while its car policy incentivises the use of electric vehicles.
The GPhC also said it would seek to develop and implement a low carbon procurement policy requiring suppliers to demonstrate their own carbon reduction plans and share progress.
A version of this article was originally published by our sister publication The Pharmacist.
