Readiness to reduce primary care-associated carbon emissions in England: a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical staff views
Objectives To describe current levels of interest and action around decarbonisation in general practice settings, and awareness and use of currently available materials designed to support general practice teams undertake decarbonisation activity.Design Cross-sectional, mixed methods, online survey....
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| Format: | Article |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2025-07-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7/e095457.full |
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| author | Jeremy Dale Ana Raquel Nunes Rachel Spencer Helen Twohig Florence Karaba Olivia Geddes Frederik Dahlmann Abigail Eccles |
| author_facet | Jeremy Dale Ana Raquel Nunes Rachel Spencer Helen Twohig Florence Karaba Olivia Geddes Frederik Dahlmann Abigail Eccles |
| author_sort | Jeremy Dale |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives To describe current levels of interest and action around decarbonisation in general practice settings, and awareness and use of currently available materials designed to support general practice teams undertake decarbonisation activity.Design Cross-sectional, mixed methods, online survey.Setting 473 general practices in three Integrated Care Board regions in England.Participants Multiprofessional general practice staff.Results There were 328 responses from 163 (34.5%) practices. Most respondents were general practitioner (GP) partners (98; 29.9%), other clinical staff (93; 28.3%) or managerial staff (76; 23.2%). 229 (69.8%) respondents felt that acting to reduce carbon emissions from primary care is a legitimate part of general practice activity. However, only 44 (13.4%) felt that there is sufficient training and resources to support such activity, and only 59 (18.0%) agreed that there was sufficient leadership from higher levels within the health service to enable this. 58 (35.6%) practices had a lead for sustainability, generally managerial staff (22; 37.9%) or GP partners (17; 29.3%). Compared to other practices, those with a decarbonisation lead reported increased levels of decarbonisation actions currently being undertaken (mean = 5.2 vs 3.1; t(161) = 7.7, p<0.001); use of resource materials that support decarbonisation (79.3% vs 32.3%; χ2=31.9, p<0.001); and planned future decarbonisation actions (63.8% vs 15.2%; χ2=32.3, p<0.001). Respondents from 47 (28.8%) practices provided free-text comment, mostly noting conflicting workload priorities, limited funding, lack of leadership and practice staff engagement as barriers to decarbonisation activity in their practice.Conclusions This survey provides insight into how English general practices and their staff regard decarbonisation activities. The findings highlight the importance of leadership, resources and incentives in driving such activities and have implications for initiatives to help achieve wider decarbonisation goals in healthcare. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1b5ae5b8ca3f4f3dae92e6c6d4b8cf6b |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-1b5ae5b8ca3f4f3dae92e6c6d4b8cf6b2025-07-19T04:15:10ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552025-07-0115710.1136/bmjopen-2024-095457Readiness to reduce primary care-associated carbon emissions in England: a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical staff viewsJeremy Dale0Ana Raquel Nunes1Rachel Spencer2Helen Twohig3Florence Karaba4Olivia Geddes5Frederik Dahlmann6Abigail Eccles7Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UKDivision of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UKDivision of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UKSchool of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, UKDivision of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UKDivision of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UKStrategy & International Business Group, Warwick Business School, Coventry, UKNuffield Department of Primary Care, Oxford University, Oxford, UKObjectives To describe current levels of interest and action around decarbonisation in general practice settings, and awareness and use of currently available materials designed to support general practice teams undertake decarbonisation activity.Design Cross-sectional, mixed methods, online survey.Setting 473 general practices in three Integrated Care Board regions in England.Participants Multiprofessional general practice staff.Results There were 328 responses from 163 (34.5%) practices. Most respondents were general practitioner (GP) partners (98; 29.9%), other clinical staff (93; 28.3%) or managerial staff (76; 23.2%). 229 (69.8%) respondents felt that acting to reduce carbon emissions from primary care is a legitimate part of general practice activity. However, only 44 (13.4%) felt that there is sufficient training and resources to support such activity, and only 59 (18.0%) agreed that there was sufficient leadership from higher levels within the health service to enable this. 58 (35.6%) practices had a lead for sustainability, generally managerial staff (22; 37.9%) or GP partners (17; 29.3%). Compared to other practices, those with a decarbonisation lead reported increased levels of decarbonisation actions currently being undertaken (mean = 5.2 vs 3.1; t(161) = 7.7, p<0.001); use of resource materials that support decarbonisation (79.3% vs 32.3%; χ2=31.9, p<0.001); and planned future decarbonisation actions (63.8% vs 15.2%; χ2=32.3, p<0.001). Respondents from 47 (28.8%) practices provided free-text comment, mostly noting conflicting workload priorities, limited funding, lack of leadership and practice staff engagement as barriers to decarbonisation activity in their practice.Conclusions This survey provides insight into how English general practices and their staff regard decarbonisation activities. The findings highlight the importance of leadership, resources and incentives in driving such activities and have implications for initiatives to help achieve wider decarbonisation goals in healthcare.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7/e095457.full |
| spellingShingle | Jeremy Dale Ana Raquel Nunes Rachel Spencer Helen Twohig Florence Karaba Olivia Geddes Frederik Dahlmann Abigail Eccles Readiness to reduce primary care-associated carbon emissions in England: a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical staff views BMJ Open |
| title | Readiness to reduce primary care-associated carbon emissions in England: a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical staff views |
| title_full | Readiness to reduce primary care-associated carbon emissions in England: a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical staff views |
| title_fullStr | Readiness to reduce primary care-associated carbon emissions in England: a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical staff views |
| title_full_unstemmed | Readiness to reduce primary care-associated carbon emissions in England: a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical staff views |
| title_short | Readiness to reduce primary care-associated carbon emissions in England: a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical staff views |
| title_sort | readiness to reduce primary care associated carbon emissions in england a cross sectional survey of clinical and non clinical staff views |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7/e095457.full |
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