Most readers will be aware of the massive treatment backlog in the NHS. It is a matter of grave concern to all doctors, even recently retired ones like myself. So, imagine my excitement to discover that the Royal College of Physicians has found the time to produce a ‘Green Physician Toolkit’. I’m sure this important initiative will go a long way to solving the many problems in our beloved NHS. Interested readers can download the advice here.
Sadly, I must report that this brochure has not been uniformly well received by my colleagues. One contributor to a GP website went so far as to ask whether the document was a parody. On the upside it does indeed contain many amusing sections.
Knowing how popular remote consultations are with the general public, readers will be delighted to hear that the Royal College advises doctors to conduct as much interaction with patients as possible by virtual means, and goes on to advocate that doctors work from home whenever feasible to reduce carbon emissions from travelling. How very convenient – for the profession, if not for patients.
There are useful pointers in how to go about communicating concerns about climate change and health. The Royal College says doctors are “uniquely placed as a trusted member of the community to discuss public health threats with patients”. I’m not entirely sure how one might raise the subject in the consultation room. “Good morning, Mrs. Smith. I wonder, have you ever considered the impact of climate change on your breast cancer/diabetes/rheumatoid arthritis?” I imagine Mrs. Smith would shortly be seeking a second opinion.
To help with the tricky matter of introducing climate change into a medical consultation, 10 top tips are provided from the WHO including “Talk about the health benefits of climate action”, “Keep your message simple and repeat it often”, “Talk about climate change during extreme weather events” and above all “Don’t debate the science”. God forbid!
Readers may be interested to follow the link to the WHO website and download the WHO ‘Green Health Toolkit’, which I suspect is where this advice originated – though the WHO’s guidance is an even more egregious misuse of medical professionalism, containing advice on how to use a position of trust to incite patients to climate activism and lobby journalists to spread green propaganda. I strongly encourage readers to examine this WHO handbook for themselves – the principles are directly derived from “information operations” specifically designed to influence behaviour in populations by inculcating false beliefs.
According to the Royal College: “The U.K. will not be immune from the direct effects of extreme heat and flooding events, or the inevitable arrival of climate refugees.”
There then follows a helpful link to the Royal College of Psychiatrists webpage regarding “eco-anxiety” – a diagnosable condition prevalent amongst young people caused by alarmist nonsense about the “climate emergency”. This exhibits a simply stunning lack of awareness given that the type of hyperbole in the Green Physicians Toolkit is directly responsible for causing “eco-anxiety”.
Most doctors will simply ignore this nonsense and get on with their jobs, but there are serious risks lurking behind this relentless institutional propaganda.
Firstly, it demonstrates yet another professional body has been captured by climate alarmism – and no doubt the rest of the ‘woke’ agenda. The majority of doctors may ignore the Green Physician Toolkit, but I would bet money on a mandatory ‘Eco training’ module being introduced into annual appraisal assessments before long. Annual appraisal and mandatory training in medicine has expanded hugely over the last decade and now includes a compulsory module on Diversity and Inclusion. It can only be a matter of time before the medical training industry spots a lucrative opportunity to add to its portfolio of time consuming and pointless ‘e-learning’ products.
Secondly, tucked away in the corner of one page, the Green Physician Toolkit notes that the General Medical Council has included advice to doctors relating to the importance of considering environmental matters in day-to-day practice. How long will it be I wonder before registered physicians are banned from expressing views “orthogonal to the orthodoxy” in public fora like social media? (Hat tip Sunetra Gupta.) In the revised edit on “Good medical practice” issued in January this year, the GMC explicitly warned doctors that comments on any form of social media now come under its jurisdiction. The mere threat of being investigated by the GMC is sufficient to silence most sceptical doctors.
I doubt it will stop there. The Royal College highlights several virtuous projects already underway in our ever more perfect NHS. Some doctors will see this as an opportunity to move into full time climate activism funded by the taxpayer. A chance to escape the tedium and hard grind at the clinical coalface by masquerading as an ‘eco lead’ or ‘climate change champion’ within their NHS organisation – for which they will be remunerated at the same rate of pay as their colleagues toiling away on the wards. To achieve sustainability in such posts, more output will be required, so one can expect multiple green initiatives to sprout up all over the sacred NHS – zero impact on the climate, but substantially increased friction in the working lives of coal face clinicians. The ratchet will tighten a couple of notches, making the real practice of medicine slightly less appealing.
In my recent reading I came across an appropriate quote from an 18th Century writer:
All religious sects, however they may differ in other points, agree in one, which is the pursuit of power, and this by the same progressive steps. Firstly, by imploring toleration, next claiming equality and then struggling for superiority over the rest.
Soame Jenyns, Disquisitions on certain subjects
Green Power does not just refer to Ed Miliband’s plan to cover Britain in windfarms. It’s also coming to your GP surgery.
Thank God I’ve retired.
The author, the Daily Sceptic’s in-house doctor, is a former NHS consultant, now retired.
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