RCVS Fellowship to host interactive session on carbon neutral surgery

The RCVS has teamed up with a leading sustainable healthcare advocate and academic to deliver an interactive session at this year’s London Vet Show on whether carbon neutral veterinary surgery is achievable.

Mahmood Bhutta, a consultant ENT surgeon and Professor of Sustainable Healthcare at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, will host the interactive panel alongside RCVS President Dr Sue Paterson FRCVS.

The session, which has been organised under the remit of the RCVS Fellowship scheme and is titled ‘Is carbon neutral surgery possible? What can we learn from the NHS?’, will look at the available options for reducing the carbon footprint of veterinary surgery, and how the NHS has achieved this in some areas of healthcare without compromising on patient care and safety.

Those attending the panel, which takes place on Thursday 16 November from 11.20am to 12.20pm in Gallery Suite 10, will have the opportunity to join in the discussion and ask questions of the panellists.

Sue Paterson (pictured), RCVS President, said: “As the College’s representative on the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC), I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Mahmood in his capacity as Chair of its Green Surgery Project Team and am delighted he’s agreed to chair this panel.

“On UKHACC I have been made aware of some of the pioneering ideas and actions to ensure that our healthcare systems, while playing such a vital societal role, are also not having a deleterious effect on our environment. I’ve no doubt that many of the sustainable innovations and interventions in human healthcare can be applied in the veterinary sector, and I look forward to discussing this with Mahmood next month.”

Throughout London Vet Show, which takes place at Excel London on 16 and 17 November, the RCVS will be based on stand N66 where College staff will be available to deal with queries from delegates. The RCVS stand will also host a ‘learning zone’ where short, educational presentations on regulatory issues will be hosted over both days. These include:

• RCVS Junior Vice-President Dr Linda Belton MRCVS will give a talk titled 'Under care and remote prescribing: your questions answered';
• RCVS Digital Learning Designer Claire Bogue talking about the RCVS Academy;
• RCVS Education Department staff Britta Crawford and Jenny Soreskog-Turp will talk about the 1CPD platform; and,
• RCVS VN Council Chair Belinda Andrews-Jones will talk about the VN Futures project.

Furthermore, RCVS staff will also be available for one-to-one sessions with delegates on the Veterinary Graduate Development Programme (VetGDP) and the Practice Standards Scheme (PSS). The VetGDP sessions are relevant to new graduates, VetGDP Advisers and employers.

Those with any queries about the event itself should contact [email protected]