“The most sustainable health service is one that keeps people well”:

With COP29 underway, Advanced Pharmacy Australia CEO Kristin Michaels and Dr Kate O’Hara, Deputy Service Manager - Clinical at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, talk about moves to more sustainable practices at AdPha and in the sector more widely, addressing waste in hospital settings, the need to reduce the carbon footprint of the health sector, the toxic risks that prescribed pharmaceutical products raise for oceans and the broader environment when they are disposed of incorrectly, and critically, the role of prevention and deprescribing.
In urging government action, O’Hara would like see more transparency around the carbon costs of different medications to inform updated national guidelines. “If there is no clinical difference and this choice is greener, consider using this”.