Maughan, Daniel Lawrence (2015) Determining an approach to estimating the carbon footprint of mental health care that is fit for purpose. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The NHS has to meet the Climate Change Act targets of an 80% reduction to their carbon emissions by 2050. Investigation into the components of the carbon footprint of mental health care is needed to understand how services can meet these targets.

This thesis first seeks to understand what is known about the carbon footprint of mental health care through two systematic reviews and two national surveys. Second, existing methodologies for estimating carbon footprints are examined to assess whether an approach is available that is ‘fit for purpose’ in mental health care. The approach needs to be applied feasibly within a clinical context and the results need to be sufficiently robust to reliably inform decisions about service design. The aim of this research is to provide an approach that service providers can use to estimate the carbon footprint of services and then use the information obtained to inform service design.

This thesis defines the boundaries of assessment to ensure a consistent approach. It suggests an approach to data collection that includes financial and activity data. It presents a review of the available methods for converting this data to carbon equivalents and finds a potential five-fold range associated with carbon footprint estimates of medication. The approach developed within this study is termed the combined approach.

The combined approach is then evaluated using a scenario analysis, a four-year retrospective cohort analysis and a prospective care modelling analysis to assess whether it is fit for purpose according to specified criteria. It is concluded that the combined approach is fit for the purpose of assessing how the carbon footprint of a service changes over time. However, due to the use of financial data and the problems with estimating the carbon footprint of medication, this approach has significant weaknesses, which limits its wider use.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Carbon dioxide mitigation, Mental health services
Official Date:	November 2015
Dates:	Date Event November 2015 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Medical School
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Weich, Scott ; Lillywhite, Rob ; Coke, Mathew
Extent:	xxiii, 284 leaves
Language:	eng

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