Ali Fatima, Jabouri Hakam, Abbott Rachel A, Wernham Aaron
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, Dartford, UK.
Clin Exp Dermatol. 2025 Apr 24;50(5):946-951. doi: 10.1093/ced/llae524.
Dermatological surgery contributes to the large environmental impact of healthcare, but to date there are no data on the current sustainability practices, attitudes or behaviours of UK and Republic of Ireland health professionals involved in skin surgery.
We sought to evaluate this using a national sustainability questionnaire organized by the British Society for Dermatological Surgery.
Over 12 weeks, a 17-item online questionnaire was distributed nationally to healthcare professionals involved in skin surgery.
Responses were received from 115 UK healthcare professionals. 'See and Treat' provision for non-Mohs skin surgery was described by 32% of respondents. When compared with single-use equipment (median = 4), reusable equipment (median = 7) outperformed on perceived safety (P = 0.0056), quality (P = 0.00001) and patient outcomes (P = 0.0067), but no difference was found in usability (P = 0.68916). Perceived sustainability was greater in the reusable (median = 7) than single-use (median = 1) (P = 0.00001) equipment. Almost all (97%) respondents believe global climate change is happening, and the majority (74%) are concerned by dermatological surgery's impact. However, only 44% feel comfortable discussing health effects of climate change with patients. While 75% turn off surgical lighting between lists, often room lighting (31%), equipment (32%) or heating/air conditioning (22%) are forgotten.
While awareness of the impact of dermatological surgery on global climate change is common among healthcare professionals involved in skin surgery, there is room for improvement in translating this into local action, advocacy and service improvement to standards dictated by national sustainability guidance.
