The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHS) has released its Sustainable Healthcare Module (formerly known as Climate Risk Module) for public consultation.
In 2021 the commission established a Sustainable Environment Advisory Group to provide expert advice and guidance to develop the module for the national accreditation framework. In July, consultation was open whether to include this module in the National Standards.
This would be a voluntary accreditation module for health services to consider their vulnerability to climate change and how they contribute.
Now the developed module is open for feedback and consultation by 31 January 2023.
Climate change and public health
Climate change creates risk to health and healthcare services. We’ve seen this during the 2020 fires when an emergency relief task force was set up to deal with the increased demand on health services. And currently we are seeing this with the ongoing floods impacting communities across the state..
Additionally our emissions, waste and resource consumption impact on the environment. As experts in our own area, we see the improvements that can be made. This consultation provides opportunity for us to input into those improvements and ensure clinical representation.
Participate in the consultation
ANMF encourages members to promote this consultation within your own network and provide their individual feedback.
We are also keen to incorporate your comments into our own submission. Email your feedback or a copy of your ACSQHC survey response to ANMF Environmental Health Officer, Ros Morgan by Thursday 12 January 2023.
