479 Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability: A Survey of The Behaviours, Attitudes and Current Practice of Surgeons in The UK And Ireland

Background The operating theatre is resource intensive and surgery is a major contributor to the environmental impact of healthcare. Our survey aims to explore the behaviours and attitudes of surgeons towards climate change and understand the barriers towards sustainable practice. Method We invited surgeons and surgical trainees to take part in a voluntary online survey between June- October 2020 and disseminated this via the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh, and Ireland, ASIT, and to surgeons locally. Results We received 116 responses from 14 different surgical specialties, across all grades. The majority (107/116 respondees) said that they were concerned about climate change. This concern had led to change in surgeons’ personal lives (98/116) and professional lives (63/116). Most respondees agreed that surgeons have a responsibility to be aware of the environmental impact of surgical services (101/116). Surgeons were generally not aware of any environmental training or education in the workplace and felt efforts towards improving surgical sustainability in their workplace were minimal. Surgeons would welcome more national guidance (103/116) and would welcome more regulation and monitoring (93/116). Conclusions Our results indicate that surgeons are concerned about climate change and they are willing to engage in efforts to transition to more sustainable practice.