GCU research aims to reduce pharmaceutical pollution in Scotland through ‘blue-green prescriptions’
A PhD researcher at Glasgow Caledonian University is developing Scotland’s first blue-green prescribing programme - a sustainable approach to reducing pharmaceutical pollution by using nature-based health interventions and environmentally-informed prescribing of medicines.
To coincide with World Health Day (7 April), Julze Alejandre has launched a Blue-Green Prescribing Survey asking healthcare professionals, such as GPs, nurses and pharmacists, what would help and support them to practice blue-green prescribing. The survey runs until 30 April, 2023.
Julze, who is a Hydro Nation scholar of the Scottish Government and is leading the Blue-Green Prescribing Research in the University’s Water Research Group, explained: “Medicines are widely used in healthcare and are an important element of healthcare service delivery but they have negative effects on the climate and the environment. They also contribute to antimicrobial resistance, which is one of the major global health problems of the 21st century.
“Blue-green prescribing is a response to pharmaceutical pollution. It will help reduce pharmaceutical pollution at source by providing people with environmentally sustainable health interventions.
“With blue-green prescribing, people who have common mental health conditions, such as anxiety or depression, could be prescribed with and have opportunities to access community-based blue space activities such as kayaking, swimming, or even surfing through social prescribing programmes. If needed, they could also be prescribed with medications or antidepressants that are less environmentally harmful but are still clinically safe and effective.
“As we celebrate World Health Day with the theme Health for All, it reminds us that providing universal access to healthcare means providing quality and environmentally sustainable healthcare interventions that protect human and planetary health.
“Blue-green prescribing is health innovation that feeds into this agenda by helping transform our healthcare system to a more sustainable one. However, its implementation in Scotland requires changes in the prescribing practices of healthcare providers. That is why we are inviting healthcare professionals to help us understand what blue-green prescribing models would work for them and their patients by answering our short survey.”
Julze has been researching the relationship between nature and human health for the past six years and has lived experiences of the benefits that blue space activities have had on his own mental health.
He is working with scientists in the School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment (SCEBE) Water Research Group and the School of Health and Life Sciences’ Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) to develop the new blue-green prescribing model.
The research is funded by the Scottish Government and supported by the James Hutton Institute, NHS Highland, One Health Breakthrough Partnership, Queensland University of Technology, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Nature Scot, and Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Water.
Recently, Julze, who also works as a senior parliamentary intern on One Health and Planetary Health at the House of Lords in the UK Parliament, developed policy recommendations on how to implement environmentally sustainable pharmaceutical prescribing in Scotland which includes building the capabilities of healthcare providers to practice blue-green prescribing.
The recommendations came before NHS Scotland released its Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy that prioritises the need to tackle pharmaceutical pollution and to improve participation and access to nature-based health interventions.