Brannam Medical Centre is proud to announce that it is working hard to become greener! Our core purpose is to 'support your health', which includes supporting the environment in which we all live and work. Sustainability is one of the core values that we are implementing to achieve this purpose. We are committed to making changes and improvements that will help reduce our carbon footprint, as well as improving health and wellbeing of patients and our own staff.

Following on from the success of achieving the highly regarded "RCGP Active Practice Award" last year for our efforts in improving activity levels in staff and patients we are now focusing on The RCGP NUS Green Impact for Health award which will help us to improve our sustainability and reduce our impact on the environment.

A dedicated team of individuals within the practice are focusing on many different areas of potential improvements with the aim of ensuring Brannam Medical Centre is a greener, healthier and more sustainable medical practice.

Our key area of focus for sustainability are:

• Improving our energy efficiency
• Calculating our carbon footprint and working towards offsetting this
• Sourcing food and drink responsibly and avoiding use of plastic where possible
• Reducing waste and increasing recycling
• Promoting sustainable transport
• Purchasing sustainably
• Reducing our use of paper
• reducing prescribing
• Improving our outdoor green spaces with a dedicated gardening team
• Implementing the NUS/RCGP Green Impact Toolkit

Sustainability - what we are doing?

The main areas we are focusing on are;

• Improving our energy efficiency
• Reducing waste and increasing recycling
• Promoting sustainable transport
• Purchasing sustainably
• Reducing our use of paper
• Reducing prescribing
• Supporting health and wellbeing 

Sustainability - what can patients do?

As well as things we are doing as a Practice to be more sustainable, we are encouraging patients to be more sustainable too. Below are some ideas of small, often health related, changes you can make which can help the environment, and which can also often save you money too.

Using sustainable transport

• Walk or cycle to the Practice for your appointments where possible - we have cycle racks at the back and front of the building that you are welcome to use.
• Use public transport where possible - to get to your appointments at the practice or elsewhere. You can find out more about public transport in and around Barnstaple on the Town Council website here.
• Beyond Barnstaple, think about using the train instead of driving places and reducing the amount of flying you do.

Reducing the use of single use plastic and sourcing food and drink responsibly

• You can reduce your single use plastic by using a refillable water bottle. If you are ever at the Practice and need a refill you can fill it from our water refill station, in the waiting room. 
• We are lucky in Barnstaple to have a number of shops that encourage plastic free shopping. These include Bare Necessities Groceries and Pure Vida Stores
• You might also want to think about other ways to reduce your use of plastic. You can volunteer for PFND, become an SAS community leader in your area, donate, make individual changes to your consumption, or educate and inspire yourself and others around you with plastic-free solutions. Visit Plastic Free North Devon for more information.
• Where possible, buy Fair Trade products because, as well as ensuring decent working conditions, terms of trade and prices for producers, it also ensures local sustainability where products are grown/produced.
• Download the Refill HQ App to tap into a global network of places to reduce, reuse and refill. From a coffee on your commute to drinking water on the go, or even shopping with less plastic. Refill HQ puts the power to go packaging free at your fingertips.

Reducing waste and increasing recycling

• Did you know you can recycle your inhaler? Patients can return inhalers to any pharmacy so that they can be disposed of in an environmentally safe way, through normal processes for handling returned pharmaceutical waste.
• If you have asthma the Practice Nurse will advise you if you are suited to a dry powder. Dry powder inhalers are much better for the environment and are often the best choice for our health. More information about Dry Powder Inhalers, the impact of Metered Dose Inhalers and why we should switch away from using these is available here.