Sustainability in practice

  Vet Sustain Director, Zoë Halfacree, is recognized as an RCVS and EBVS specialist in Small Animal Surgery. Zoë has worked in academia and private practice and is a passionate advocate for sustainability, both within education and our daily clinical practices. Here she focuses on the opportunities of reducing and processing our rubbish and waste to decrease its environmental impact.

 Laura Binnie leads on the Paragon Veterinary Group Sustainability Project where they are making changes to become a more sustainable business to reduce their impact on the environment and improve their local biodiversity. In this article, Laura shines a light on how to be part of the circular economy and how to reduce, reuse and recycle in veterinary practice.

 Dr Justine Shotton, Director of Vet Sustain and champion of environmental sustainability, conservation and animal welfare, guides us through the thorny problem of climate change and how we as individuals can start to make an impact on combating the problem.

Justine Shotton discusses sustainability during EMS and beyond. This lecture covers the key areas in the Vet Sustain practice checklist:

• Practice responsible resource use
• Be sustainable in your operation
• Use medicines responsibly
• Empower the team.

Zoë Halfacree looks at environmental sustainability in clinical practice. Key learning objectives:

• Recognise the role that we can play in addressing the environmental crises
• Recognise the areas where changes can be made in clinical practice to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare
• Understand the business case for sustainability in terms of mental well-being, staff recruitment, retention and client engagement.

Today’s pampered pets would probably turn their noses up at the scraps offered as food for previous generations of companion animals. But in a world where the effects on the environment of our personal decisions are under increasing scrutiny, can we afford to treat our cats and dogs as privileged members of the family? John Bonner reports…

There and back again – a tale of travel: This lecture will help us to understand the distance travelled annually in the UK in our cars and vans; recognise the damage done by air pollution on human health in the short term; understand the carbon emissions contribute to the climate crisis, causing damage in the short, medium and longer term; the amount of staff and client generated carbon emissions and air pollution during their commute or travel to the surgery; the actions we can take today which provide a lot of positive benefits to individuals, the practice staff, and the wider community; how practices can facilitate behaviour change for staff and clients and the multiple co-benefits of doing so.

Primary care practice experience of iE scheme: with Sarah Sheppard.

How nurses can drive one health: with Claire Roberts.

How is the green initiative going at our practice? A presentation demonstrating the sustainability journey of Minster Veterinary Practice so far. Since October 2020 we have been trying to reduce our environmental impact with the support from Investors in the Environment. See what we have achieved up to this point, what spurred the whole team to get on board, and what we envision for the future.Going green – the NHS experience: The NHS is responsible for 5% of UK carbon emissions, and 5% of travel in the UK. It is also the largest employer and owns a vast estate across the country. This gives great potential for improvements using both technology and employee engagement. This short presentation will feature examples from Northampton General Hospital, a medium sized acute hospital, as well some drawn from other parts of the NHS, demonstrating the breadth of projects used to reduce the environmental impact of the Health Service.

Leadership perspective: what is needed right now and how to change minds? This non-hysterical look at the big picture provides information regarding the crisis we are facing, and details the leadership skills for you to personally take it forward into practice and your lives to feel like you’re making a difference. The time is past where we can all sit back hoping against hope that someone else will lead us out of this situation. There are things that every individual can do, but more power to effect change comes with better strategy – this lecture focuses on the practical delivery of change into existing structures.

What is happening in the veterinary sector: a high level perspective: Medical journal The Lancet has called climate change “the biggest global health threat of the 21st century”, but also the greatest public health opportunity. The veterinary sector has a moral obligation to mitigate against and adapt to the triple threats of global heating, resource scarcity and biodiversity loss. The transformative change required for this endeavour has been forced by the global pandemic; the question is how we choose to emerge from one crisis, in order to deal with the next? Small animal veterinary practice has a unique set of environmental impacts, not least the greenhouse gas effects caused by release of volatile anaesthetic agents, but also single use plastic consumption, hazardous waste production, and resource use. Some opportunities are clear; others present a wicked problem with interdependent impacts, inadvertent consequences of changes, and embedded behaviours all contributing to the tangled puzzle. We will need to show the best of what we can do; work collaboratively, think laterally, dissect the detail whilst seeing the bigger picture, and showing leadership in the workplace and in our communities. This lecture will highlight the excellent environmental sustainability work that is underway in the small animal sector, and the opportunities for growth and participation.

  When the first lockdown made Laura Sullivan’s vet skills temporarily superfluous, it meant that she had time to spend making environmentally-friendly washable surgical caps for her existing online business. Now, she is back at work stitching her clients’ animals back together, but she still has time to make her own contribution towards more sustainable veterinary practices.