Green Impact Gold Award Posted or Updated on 19 Jan 2026

Green Impact Gold Award

Sustainability is a critical issue, and we are committed to doing our part as a PCN to protect the environment. We are proud to announce that we have achieved the Green Impact Gold Award for 2026.

Since 2023, we have actively participated in the Green Impact initiative, which aims to transform organisations through its United Nations award-winning program that makes environmental and social sustainability accessible to everyone. To learn more about this initiative, please visit their website below.

Green Impact | Students Organising for Sustainability | Green Impact is SOS UK's sustainability engagement programme for teams

Over the past year, we have continued our sustainability initiatives. We have supported methods to reduce paper waste and resource consumption, including promoting green prescriptions such as referrals to Fitter Futures and supporting ARRS roles. Additionally, we have encouraged the use of AccuRx and the practice of utilising PCN websites to share information with patients instead of printing materials.

We have made significant progress in our sustainability efforts by changing our suppliers for ink toners and drums to ensure they can be recycled. We've also implemented clearly marked recycling bins in our practices and switched to purchasing fair trade and non-dairy alternatives for items like milk, tea bags, and coffee. Additionally, we have developed a green sustainability plan that reviews our energy consumption and explores ideas for more energy-efficient medical equipment. Alongside these initiatives, our ARRS team has remained active in the community, and we have engaged in teaching sessions with other businesses to share our insights and experiences.

To help our efforts progress and earn the Platinum award in the future, we are encouraging our clinicians to undertake some or all of the methods below:

• Review inhaler prescribing - Clinicians are being encouraged to review their inhaler prescribing for patients, where it is appropriate to do so.
• Encourage patients to recycle their inhalers and blister packs – instructions and recommendations on how to do this can be found in the sustainability section of our website.
• Patients are also to be encouraged to utilise the insulin, weight management and hormone injection pen recycling schemes offered by Sanofi and Novo Nordisk.
• Reduce the number of unnecessary letters sent out of practice – this can be done by utilising services such as AccuRx to contact patients and through utilising the PCN and practice website to spread information. We also encourage clinicians to have patients come into the surgery to collect blood forms rather than wasting the extra paper in envelopes to post them out.
• Ensure that all windows and doors are closed (if possible) when heating is on.
• Ensure double-sided printing and copying where appropriate.
• Reduce the number of unnecessary prescriptions through the facilitation of Structured Medication Reviews for some patients.
• Encourage staff to use Ecosia (https://www.ecosia.org/) as their web browser rather than Google or other similar browsers. Every four times we use Ecosia, they have pledged to plant a tree, helping our environment.

For more information on our most recent award, how we earned it and our plans for the future please click on the link below.

Our Green Impact Award - North Arden Primary Care Network