Joined Up Care Derbyshire Greener Inhaler Strategy July 2022
This strategy sets out the actions of the ICS to reduce the carbon emissions created within the Derbyshire system by medicines, particularly pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDIs).
Our Greener Inhaler work focuses on reducing the carbon footprint (CF) of inhaler prescribing. Currently around 3% of the entire NHS carbon emissions result from the prescribing of pMDIs. Most of these emissions come from the propellants used in pMDIs to deliver the medicine, rather than the medicine itself or the plastic device.
In Primary Care, the prescribing of pMDIs account for more carbon emissions than those of energy use from buildings, waste, water, or travel. It is an area where we can make a huge impact.
The strategy supports the NHS targets for reducing the carbon footprint, as set out in the ‘Delivering a Net-Zero NHS’ report.
It is a ‘live’ document, to be updated on a regular basis as the work develops across the system.
