Entitled ‘Environmentally Sustainable Primary Care’, the book has been written by around 30 experts and includes a substantial section on dentistry.
The book explains the role and responsibility of primary care, covering the impact of the climate crisis on healthcare. It sets out the steps providers should take to operate more sustainably and includes anecdotes, successful projects, guidance and suggestions. It is illustrated with examples from real-life experience supported by published evidence.
The dentistry chapter was written by Davinder Raju, founder of Greener Dentistry Global, and Ciara O’Kane, a specialist advisor for sustainability at the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The revised CQC regulatory framework has five key headings: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. The quality statement on environmental sustainability sits under the heading ‘well-led’.
CQC inspectors may also consider how providers are adapting to climate change within the quality statement ‘safe environments’ and within ‘governance, management and sustainability.’
Davinder explained that the lessons he had learned from setting up his own environmentally friendly practice had been condensed into the chapter. He said, “Ideally, our chapter should be a prelude to a more rigorous approach, for instance following the online programme on the Greener Dentistry Global website.”
He added, “While in the immediate future, assessment of environmental sustainability is limited to NHS trusts and Integrated Care Systems, it’s only a matter of time before all providers registered with the CQC will be inspected to ensure they are reducing the impact of their activities on the environment.”