General Practitioners: Carbon Emissions
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of General Practitioners' report entitled Towards Greener Prescribing in General Practice, published in March 2025, what plans his Department has to expand medicines recycling and re-use schemes.
Answered by Karin Smyth
In October 2020, the National Health Service published its Net Zero Strategy, in order to become the world’s first health system to commit to reaching net zero emissions, and NHS England is working collaboratively with a range of partners on implementation.
Recognising the importance of decarbonising general practices (GPs), NHS England collaborated with the Royal College of General Practitioners and the authors of the report Towards Greener Prescribing in General Practice, to develop a net zero hub, which includes three eLearning modules and a practice decarbonisation guide. These resources support and educate GPs in reducing carbon emissions from prescribing. The Department will work with NHS England to consider the recommendations and findings of the Royal College of General Practitioners' report.
Greener prescribing and recycling are key enablers to support the NHS’ transition towards a more sustainable healthcare system. One key aspect of this is tackling overprescribing, including through improving repeat prescribing processes and delivering Structured Medication Reviews. Further information can be found in the updated Green Plan Guidance at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/green-plan-guidance/
The NHS has already made progress in reducing medicine emissions. For example, optimising inhaler use by addressing Short Acting Beta Agonists overprescribing, improving inhaler technique, and working to ensure patients are on the appropriate treatment regimen and are using their inhaler at the right time. NHS England is also committed to exploring inhaler recycling and its potential benefits, and is currently supporting the implementation of an inhaler recycling pilot to assess a national scheme’s feasibility and potential benefits.
In 2021, NHS England set out its NHS Net Zero Supplier Roadmap. Alongside and since this announcement, many pharmaceutical companies have made commitments to decarbonise. The NHS and the Government continue to collaborate with industry across a range of actions, such as the Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing programme, and the Voluntary Pricing, Access and Growth Investment Programme.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →