Allied health professions (AHP) engagement with and leadership towards actionable carbon reduction interventions to meet the NHS net zero agenda: a consensus study

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:The consensus methodology and thematic findings inform future research on healthcare decarbonization and professional behavior change.

🏢実務担当者:Provides actionable priorities (e.g., resource efficiency, digitalization) for healthcare professionals to reduce carbon footprint.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the need for integrating sustainability into professional competencies and supporting leadership development in health systems.

Background Climate change is one of the greatest threats to human health. The UK health and care system is responsible for 4%–5% of the country’s carbon footprint. Following an ambitious commitment to ‘Delivering a Net Zero NHS’, there is an ongoing urgent drive to advocate for proactive sustainability measures across the workforce healthcare practice areas. As the third largest workforce within the NHS, allied health professionals (AHPs) are crucial players in this net zero commitment. Implementing suitable carbon reduction strategies requires leadership and more clarity on the practical steps that AHPs can take specific to their unique skill set. Objective This study aimed to develop a professional consensus on the actionable carbon reduction priorities across a sample of AHP professions. Setting AHPs working in diverse areas of practice. Participants n=101 participants from n=10 AHP professional disciplines. Methods Using an adapted nominal group technique, 10 workshops were run with AHP professional disciplines to discuss practice-related carbon reduction priorities. Within workshops, ideas were discussed, scored and ranked to produce a final consensus on the top (5 or 10) priorities for carbon reduction for each profession. Results Via thematic analysis, five cross-cutting themes emerged: (a) resource use; (b) preventative healthcare; (c) digital transformation; (d) professional development/training and (e) service efficiency/re-design. Findings align closely with those highlighted in the ‘AHPs Deliver’ strategic vision to prioritise environmental sustainability across practice areas. They also concur with the urgent call for stronger leadership within healthcare to embed sustainability and planetary health into ‘business as usual’ function. Conclusions Despite some inherent limitations (eg, purposive sampling, which might have presented bias) this study provides a solid foundation on which to base future action to reduce carbon emissions within the UK healthcare context. Recommendations are made for AHP practice, advocacy and culture change, and for bold (collaborative) leadership to spearhead and direct transformational change towards greener healthcare across the AHP community.

• crossref https://doi.org/10.1136/leader-2025-001451first seen 2026-07-02 07:47:35