Sunnyside Surgery is proud to support NHS England's goal of providing a 'Net Zero' health service by 2040 https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/national-ambition/. With around 4% of the country’s carbon emissions, and over 7% of the economy, the NHS has an essential role to play in meeting the net zero targets set under the Climate Change Act (Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service).

Along with our colleagues at the St Clare Health Centre, we have become a Climate and Nature Pioneer Practice and are part of the Cornwall Greener Practice Network.

Cornwall, in contrast to what the tourists see, has deep pockets of deprivation and despite our beautiful coastline, areas of poor air quality. We aim to show how improving our patients health is not only good for them but also for the planet, and want everyone to be able to enjoy and protect the incredible biodiversity Cornwall has to offer

https://www.greenerpractice.co.uk/join-our-network/local-groups/cornwall/

As a practice, we have signed up to the Green Impact For Health toolkit, which is a system for identifying and implementing measures that reduce our carbon footprint. So far we have taken steps to reduce the environmental impact of our IT systems (received a letter from us recently? You may have noticed that it is printed on recycled paper.) We now recycle our masks, aprons gloves and other items of single use plastic that we use here at the Health Centre. We are supporting out patients with respiratory conditions to switch to modern, high-quality inhalers with a lower carbon impact than older versions, and our 'Green Transport' plan is under development.

Watch this space for information on how we plan to use e-bikes to reduce the carbon footprint of our practice and show our support for active transport in the local community.

If you have ideas about how the practice can improve our environmental and climate profile then we would love to hear from you. We are passionate about community engagement, so drop us a line and our 'Green Pioneer' representative can share your thoughts at our network meetings.