Introduction: It is estimated that medicines are responsible for a considerable amount of the NHS emissions at about 25. Avoiding £150m of unused medicines equates to total avoidable emissions of 23.4 thousand tonnes CO2e from the manufacturing and supply of pharmaceuticals
(1). Given that it is also estimated that 9% plus 1% for visitor travel for all NHS; we felt it would be imperative to complete a project that could impact carbon emissions from a joint approach to patient travel and medicines.
Aims: Reduce carbon emissions via patient travel for repeat prescriptions by aligning repeat medication to one order and collection date.
Methods: A system wide approach across the locality was implemented to support alignment of patient medications. This included all General Practices and Community Pharmacies. Opportunistic patient recruitment was applied. Posters were generated and displayed in waiting areas of GP surgery and Community Pharmacies. Posters included QR codes that linked to the practice website for alignment form. Automatic text forms and appointment with pharmacy technician were also available for patients to complete.
A data collection tool was developed prior to roll out. This included information regarding to the number of items aligned and the associated travel for the patient in relation to this. Carbon emission data was included from UK gov emission factors 2023(2) and Sustainable healthcare
(3) to calculate the emission saving. Data collection was over a 2-week period only due to constraints of general practice workload.
Results: 278 items were aligned. This was collected from 4 GP surgeries. This was mainly due to out of sync cycles of medication when new medication had been added to the repeat prescription.
The average number of medications aligned was 4. The calculated mileage saved was 813.3 this equated to a total CO2e saving of 275.2.
Patient responses:• 'Grateful as had to take taxi – which cost about £10. Which was a weekly.'
• 'It will make life a lot easier only thinking about my medication once a month.'
• ' I won't worry I will run out of tablets now – it will make it a lot easier.
Discussion: The data suggests that patients were appreciative of the service and would have a direct impact on their quality of life.
The data from emissions appears low but if you put in the context that the patient population area is approximately 12miles2 a figure of 813.3 miles saved is quite large from 85 patients. Improving awareness of aligning patients' medication when starting new medication is paramount and at an annual medication review.
The posters will continue to be displayed in waiting areas in community pharmacies and GP surgeries to promote patients' awareness of prescription alignment and continue to support reduction of emissions.
Conclusion: A system-wide approach to highlighting prescription alignment can help support reduction in patient travel and associated carbon emission's created from repeat prescribing in primary care. The associated reduction in medicine waste was not collated as part of this project but could be an area of future research development.
