Eleanor Murray
QEUH, Glasgow & Centre for Sustainable Delivery (Scotland)
Renal Consultant & Green Renal Clinical Lead
Dr Eleanor Murray MBChB, MD, MRCP; Renal Consultant, QEUH, Glasgow and Green Renal Clinical Lead Centre for Sustainable Delivery (Scotland)
I set up a sustainability committee within my Renal Department whilst a trainee working in Glasgow. I also proposed a ‘sustainability scholarship’ which RCPSG and Scottish Government agreed to jointly fund; this allowed me to focus on healthcare sustainability for one day a week during the last year of my training. I focussed on education, including collaborating with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare to develop a course on Sustainable Kidney Care.
I now have a Consultant post, remain involved in Greater Glasgow and Clyde Sustainability committee, as well as the other initiatives outlined. We have implemented a number of QI projects, made efforts to estimate our emission reductions, and to disseminate the results. I have forged links with the University of Glasgow, and supported students and trainees undertaking their own SusQI projects.
I am active in the UK Kidney Association Sustainable Kidney Care Group; I co-lead the renal Atlas of Variation workstream to facilitate benchmarking of progress towards Net Zero. Considering that prevention is a critical component of any plan to achieve a Net Zero NHS, I have also been involved in a working group to develop a Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Action Plan. This has been presented to Scottish Government to highlight a growing issue. The Scottish Renal Association advocate for environmentally sustainable change, through our QI group, annual conferences, and efforts to incorporate sustainability into the Renal Registry Report.
Finally, I now act as clinical lead for the Green Renal Project, following on from the successes of the National Green Theatre Project. Renal is a relatively small specialty, but one with a large and expanding CKD population, compounded by the huge carbon intensity of dialysis. A reasonable evidence base exists, and I intend to build on this whilst delivering environmentally beneficial change across Scotland.