What we are doing about climate change – non-clinical

• We discuss green changes at every practice meeting
• We regularly ask staff for their feedback about sustainability ideas and changes
• We ask staff about sustainability at their interview
• We ask staff about sustainability during their appraisal
• We work with our local community to support green changes

Douglas Medical Centre was lucky enough to be selected as a Wee Forest site in 2022. A Wee Forest is a tennis court-sized, densely planted and fast growing, native species rich woodland in urban Scotland which combines the specific Miywaki planting method with long term school and community engagement through citizen science and volunteering. This work is led by Nature Scot. This work led to us collaborating with the University of Dundee Botanic Gardens and from there to meeting others in our community.

The Wee Forest is now establishing itself and we recently planted a community orchard outside our practice along with some NHS Forest trees. Here is a photo of the planting.

• Dundee City Council provided us with 7 raised beds (see below).

• We are working with Claypotts Primary School and their Douglas Diggers project to grow different produce and teach the children about permaculture. This work will be in collaboration with the University of Dundee Botanic Gardens and the Alba Explorers.

• Scottish Water kindly provided us with water butts so we could harvest the surgery rainwater for watering the garden areas. They also gave a talk to all of our staff members with tips about how to save water.

• In summer 2023 Art at the Start came along once a week to run outdoor art classes for preschoolers. This was also in collaboration with Dundee Contemporary Arts. Here is the report they wrote about the project and some photos.

• We recently replaced old inefficient night storage heaters with more environmentally friendly air source heat pumps
• Lights and equipment are turned off when not needed and at the end of the day
• We have reduced electricity use by turning computer monitors down to 50% brightness
• We use a special hot/cold water tap instead of kettles and a water cooler
• We are planning to invest in new windows to reduce heat lost from the building

• We only buy green energy
• Some of our team members have completed sustainable procurement training
• We have reviewed our office supplies and made many switches
• We buy cleaning products which do not cause harm to our health or the environment
• We use refill bottles where possible to reduce plastic waste
• We will shortly be switching to reusable speculums and minor surgery equipment

• We provide Fairtrade tea and coffee for the staff
• We use plastic free tea bags
• We regularly order put in a staff order from Green City, an ethical food and drink wholesaler

• Only confidential waste is collected for shredding
• All other paper is recycled
• There are clearly labelled bins in each clinical room for general, clinical, sharps waste as well as paper recycling
• We recycle soft plastics and food waste
• We recycle other material including cardboard, printer toner cartridges and batteries
• We have some rechargeable clinical equipment e.g. ophthalmoscopes to reduce battery use
• We are a collection point for patient hearing aids for recycling with a charity in Fife

• We are working towards being a paperless practice where possible
• We no longer use fax machines
• Photocopiers and printers are set to double sided by default where possible
• We scan and email documents to reduce printing
• We text information to our patients where possible
• We are planning to introduce health education messages via screens in the waiting room to reduce leaflet use

We recently took part in the Big Plastic Count to highlight unnecessary plastic in non-clinical areas

GPs walk or cycle to home visits where possible

We are working on the RUS/RCGP Green Impact for Health toolkit and have recently been awarded a platinum certificate.