Journal of Health Services Research & Policy > Volume 14, Number 3 > Pp. 165-167

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Original research

Tackling climate change close to home: mobile breast screening as a model

Alan Bond , Andrew Jones, Robin Haynes, Matthew Tam ¹, Erika Denton ¹, Mandy Ballantyne ², John Curtin ¹

School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia; ¹ Department of Radiology, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital; ² Breast Screening Unit, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich, UK

Correspondence to: alan.bond{at}uea.ac.uk

Objective: Health services contribute significantly to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and, while services in the UK are beginning to address this, the focus has been on reducing energy consumption rather than road transport, a major component of emissions. We aimed to compare the distances travelled by patients attending mobile breast screening clinics compared to the distance they would need to travel if screening services were centralized.

Methods: Anonymized postcode records were analysed to determine driving distances potentially saved through attendance at 20 mobile breast screening clinics rather than at two centralized locations. Based on assumptions for the typical car used, the CO₂ emissions were calculated for the current case of decentralized service through mobile clinics compared to a hypothetical case where only centralized services are available over one complete three-year cycle of breast screening invitations.

Results: The availability of mobile breast screening clinics for the 60,675 women who underwent screening over a three-year cycle led to a return journey distance savings of 1,429,908 km. Taking into account the CO₂ emissions of the tractor unit used for moving the mobile clinics around, this equates to approximately 75 tonnes of CO₂ saved in any one year.

Conclusions: Decentralizing health care delivery can potentially provide substantial reductions in emissions at the same time as improving the patient experience. Thus, the ‘care close to home’ agenda can simultaneously improve health outcomes and the environment.

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