30 seconds to revolutionise healthcare
Call to Action - UKHACC Food Policy Report
TL;DR [20 sec] - This week, a letter was sent to all NHS/ICB CEOs calling for a radical shift in hospital food: to put healthy & nutritious, plant-based meals as the default option, to subtly nudge patients towards healthier choices while driving hospitals to ensure they have nutritious meals available. The campaign needs people to email their CEOs and Tim Radcliffe (head of NHS food) to show their support ahead of a meeting next week.
Fill in both email templates by clicking here [30 sec].
The evidence is clear. Without addressing food, we cannot address the climate and nature crisis, and we cannot address the health and social care crisis.
[3 minute read]
Poor diet, centred on excessive quantities of unhealthy food, is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the western world, while many around the world today still suffer from lack of access to sufficient food (Lancet). Furthermore, animal agriculture is a key driver of global antibiotic resistance, and is a significant source of emerging zoonotic diseases with pandemic risk.
Animal agriculture is also the most significant single contributor to methane, a greenhouse gas 83 x more potent than CO2, and is the single most significant driver of deforestation, ocean pollution and acidification, and soil destruction. Trees, oceans and soil are the main carbon sinks for our planet, and without them, the planet cannot absorb CO2 and the entire concept of “Net Zero” would cease to exist. A headline published in the Guardian last week reported that the planet absorbed almost no carbon last year - time really is running out.
In short, without addressing global food systems, there is no hope for climate justice
This week, the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change published a new policy report on food. One of the key recommendations, is a plant-based by default approach to hospital food, within the next 6 years. If this gets implemented, the knock on effects on public perception of healthy diets, on industry, and on agriculture would be unmatched by any other campaign in recent times.
That’s why we are calling on you, as Eco Medics, to take action by clicking on this link to lend your support to the campaign. If you want to get more involved and help drive the changes at your own hospital, there is free support available to you by Greener by Default - the same team that helped NYC make all their hospitals go plant-based-by-default in 2023. Fill in this form here.
Love as always,
Eco Medics x