MEDICUS May 2022

A more common strategy used by hospitals to respond to large volumes of food waste has been to recycle it. Queanbeyan Hospital has partnered with GoTerra to collect organic food waste and send it to a commercial facility to produce soil conditioners. 7 Epworth Hospital in Victoria has installed a digester for food waste whereby the remaining residue is sent to Yarra Valley Water’s anaerobic digester to produce energy. 8 There are many established and emerging environmentally sustainable food service practices in hospitals around Australia. However, these have mostly centred around food waste, and there is still much work to be done. Local food procurement by hospitals provides opportunities to support the local economy, create jobs, and build resilience in the food supply chain. Such local food-to-institution initiatives have been established around the world, although this movement has been slower in Australian hospitals. The first known assessment of local food in an Australian hospital was recently conducted at a Victorian metropolitan hospital. Three per cent of the food budget was attributed to entirely Victorian-grown foods. 9 The importance of local food procurement is recognised by the Victorian Department of Health, which in 2021 commissioned Nutrition Australia to provide local food procurement policy options for Victorian public hospitals and residential aged care services. 10 Canadian hospitals have been proactive in recognising the value of serving traditional Indigenous foods to patients, as a way to aid patient recovery, support local Indigenous food systems, and build awareness. 11 There are ample opportunities for Australian hospitals to build on existing work to progress their environmentally sustainable food work. A first step for Australian hospitals to demonstrate their commitment could be to join sustainability member organisations. Globally, these have been identified as a key enabler for change. 12 The Pacific network of Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) is a collaboration of Australian and New Zealand health institutions that are committed to reducing their ecological footprint, and promoting public and environmental health. 13 Coordinated in the Pacific region by the Climate and Health Alliance, GGHH provides tools, resources and support to drive the urgent change needed for sustainable healthcare. What’s increasingly clear is that positive, meaningful change must be served up at health services across the country. Hospital kitchens are a key space to initiate environmentally sustainable actions. It’s time to see whose kitchen will rule! ■ References available upon request Green Practice Society to launch Clinic Carbon Calculator In response to the current fragmentation of resources to support primary care decarbonisation, Green Practice Society, a WA not-for-profit organisation founded by Dr Richard Yin and Dr George Crisp will soon launch a Clinic Carbon Calculator, as well as a range of online resources to specifically help GPs reduce their footprint. Green Practice Society will also provide a carbon certificate, outlining a practice’s commitments to sustainability that can be displayed in waiting rooms. To express your interests in this initiative, please contact Dr Richard Yin at richardelyin@gmail.com Advocacy and education can extend to the waiting room; the RACGP has several poster resources highlighting the health impacts of climate change. 11 General Practice should be a cornerstone of a sustainable healthcare sector. Tertiary care is expensive and carbon intensive. The cost effectiveness of primary care is well documented. 12 The 2019 WA Sustainable Health Review had numerous recommendations, including addressing major public health issues with a greater investment in community health and prevention at a local and state level. Primary care needs to be integrated into these new models, acknowledging the importance of the GP-patient relationship. Health ultimately lies in our connectedness to others, to social systems and ecosystems. As GPs, we are well placed to help build a planetary health system that acknowledges our interconnectedness. ■ References available upon request Continued from page 25. How GPs can contribute to sustainable healthcare. Dr Richard Yin Choice on a plate: Moroccan spiced quail served at Mater Private Hospital. Photo: Mater Group M AY 2 0 2 2 M E D I C U S 27 C O V E R S T O R Y – C L I M A T E C H A N G E A C T I O N