Shauna Golden has been appointed as NHS Lothian’s first Medical Education Fellow in environmental sustainability. The aim of the role is to raise awareness of environmental issues, facilitate collaboration and provide education and support to clinical colleagues and service teams.
Jane Hopton, Programme Director and Sustainability Lead for NHS Lothian, explains: “This is an important first step for NHS Lothian. This role will help NHS Lothian to achieve its goals in building sustainable models of care. Shauna will drive forward educating many of our clinical colleagues and building networks with other Medical Education Fellows, the University of Edinburgh and other academic and educational partners.”
Shauna has a background in Emergency Medicine and recently completed a masters in Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh.
Shauna says: “I am very excited to take on a much-needed role in NHS Lothian. Healthcare accounts for 4.4% of global emissions and the NHS is one of the biggest employers in the world. As NHS workers, we have both the duty and the power to respond to the treat of climate change. I hope in this role to be a central point to support, lead and coordinate clinical workers in NHS Lothian and clinical educators in the University of Edinburgh to make sustainable changes in their practice and secure a healthy future for our people and planet.”
This new role will help by linking NHS Lothian Sustainability Team with clinical services and specialties across the organisation who are progressing with quality improvement projects which support a Greener NHS. The role has been created with support from the Lothian MED team who have a long history of developing Doctors in training as clinician educators.
If you’re looking for advice or support with a project to make a project or service your involved with more sustainable you can get in touch with shauna.golden@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Andrew Goddard, Consultant Anaesthetist in St John’s, said: “There is a growing commitment to tackle climate change within medical specialties as well as growing fields of evidence and expertise about the impacts health care has on climate change. The Medical Education Fellow role should help us share and develop this expertise and understand the challenges of clinical change we urgently need.”
