Sustainability in Ophthalmology

Global resources are finite; as this becomes more apparent and the consequences of global warming start to affect more of the world’s population the concept of sustainability in healthcare is becoming more important. Ophthalmology is no exception and this paper has been created by a group of people from a wide variety of disciplines to inform, guide, provoke thought and offer practical solutions to some of the sustainability issues within ophthalmology. At the present time changes to practice that improve sustainability are voluntary but the NHS has ambitious targets and there may come a time when decreasing our carbon footprint is no longer optional. As a profession ophthalmology should be ready for this and lead the way with carbon reduction initiatives that also improve the standard of patient care. The College calls for leadership from the profession and the healthcare industry to develop best practice and integrate these into our service redesign. It provides suggestions to improve the sustainability of ophthalmology services e.g. mobile operating theatres (section 4), administrative efficiency. Section 5 discusses the potential benefits of Glaucoma Referral Refinement. Section 6 explores building energy improvements. Section 7 covers the importance of information technology and solutions which will in the long term save money by reducing energy costs. Procurement and industry relationships are examined in Section 8 e.g. efficient ordering of IOLs. Section 9 calls for medical schools to include sustainability in undergraduate curricula. Section 10 explores the evidence base for sustainable healthcare and section 11 provides examples of existing initiatives. This is a position paper from The Royal College of Ophthalmologists designed for Ophthalmologists, allied professions, other medical specialties and interested lay partie