The ultimate aim of the Climate Change Member Reference Group (CCMRG) is to make itself obsolete – and the RCPCH conference showed us real signs of hope.
Whether it was Chris van Tulleken talking about the impact of climate on food production in his ultra processed foods plenary, Peter Lachman citing climate change and health inequalities as major patient safety issues, or Stephen Tomlin’s ‘A prescription for change: sustainable medicines for children’ (pictured below), it felt like environmental health conversations were starting to become business as usual.
It was heartening to see excellent attendance at, and participation in, our team sessions. On Thursday, we had more than 80 attendees to ‘Here, Air and Everywhere: practice-based solutions to the problem of air pollution’. We covered the background to air pollution, barriers to clinician action and practical ways to overcome them using resources from the Air Pollution Companion. Our audience were brilliantly interactive and challenged us to think more globally about the issue of air pollution.
The session finished with an advocacy panel where VP for Health Policy Mike McKean argued that we might never have perfect data, but we have enough to advocate, Chinthika Piyasena reflected on how we can take to our bikes to advocate for clean air (Ride for Their Lives), and Malcom White (Global Action Plan) urged us all to go away to share what we’ve learnt through teaching.
Friday started with a day-glow bang as more than 30 hardy cyclists (including Senior Officers Steve Turner, Jonathan Darling and Andrew Long) joined the conference Ride for Their Lives (pictured), organised and led by Glasgow local Lucy Reynolds (on her birthday, no less!). Despite the constant threat of rain, we mostly escaped unscathed, and enjoyed learning about diffusion tubes, the Low Emission Zone and different primary school locations, one of which has a fabulous Friday bike bus.
A quick dash back to conference for a super air pollution breakfast session from Meredith Robertson and team, sharing practical examples of how we can incorporate information about air pollution levels into patient consultations. This included how air pollution monitoring stats can be recorded in electronic patient records and mapping through the Clean Air in Cities app. The narrative power of mapping was illustrated in their publication about toxic school air and statistician Florence Tydeman is keen to keep educating paediatricians about this tool.
The importance of storytelling also came across in Elaine Mulcahy’s introduction to climate change and the work of UK Heath Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC). She beautifully framed the urgency of the climate crisis by telling her personal story of the rising global temperature over her lifetime – this really was a lesson in effective scientific communication. The rest of the session was jam-packed with interesting abstracts (for example, carbon cost of rotational training and behaviour change challenges of inhaler switching) with a tree voucher being awarded to Joseph Pickles for his prize winning abstract ‘Every dose counts: thinking about sustainable prescribing’.
We were really impressed by the RCPCH &Us Climate Changers who presented their video thoughts on recent roadshows about air pollution, as well as their 10 top tips for clinicians. They reminded us just how much children and young people know about climate change, and how much clinicians have to gain from having proper conversations with our young patients.
Finally (what a rollercoaster!) the panel delved into the complex world of pharmaceuticals, and all the other bits of the medical pathway that need to change to make paediatrics truly sustainable. We reflected on frustrations about a lack of urgency, whether that be amongst regulatory bodies, medicines development and procurement. But we all agreed that the best medicine is no medicine – keeping children well into adulthood through healthy nutrition, physical activity, access to green spaces and other preventive measures.
We left conference feeling exhausted but inspired, chanting in unison ‘we refuse to not have hope’
Watch out for our Paediatric P’s for the Planet in the next issue of Milestones, the member magazine.
And if you'd like to know more about the College's work on clean air, or get involved, contact us on cleanair@rcpch.ac.uk