ERI is a steering group member of the One Health Breakthrough Partnership – which has now launched its official website at https://www.ohbp.org
Developed in 2017, the One Health Breakthrough Partnership brings together key regional and national stakeholders across the water, environment, and healthcare sectors in Scotland who are committed to addressing the issue of pharmaceutical pollution in the environment. Four agencies make-up the steering group: Scottish Water, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), NHS Highland, and the Environmental Research Institute-UHI.
The partnership is focussed on reducing the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment, a global public health and environmental issue. These compounds have been detected in surface water across Scotland and the world, and their impact is not fully known. However, pharmaceuticals are bioactive compounds and can elicit specific responses in organisms at trace concentrations – the low levels which may occur in the environment. By adopting the One Health concept, which recognises that the health of humans, the environment and animals are closely interconnected and interdependent, the OHBP is seeking to establish a “non-toxic environment”.
Through knowledge exchange, research and innovation, and cross-sector engagement, the OHBP is delivering high-impact, sustainable outcomes to reduce the environmental impact of our healthcare practices and mitigate pharmaceutical pollution in surface water.
Recent outputs include:
- Achieving the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) accreditation, with NHS Highland and Caithness General Hospital in recognition of the commitment to improve water use and reduce the environmental impact of the hospital. The AWS standard is a global benchmark for environmentally and socially responsible water management. Further work is planned with AWS and NHS Highland to roll-out the approach at other hospitals in the Highlands;
- Publishing the Caithness General Hospital pilot study conducted in Wick, Highlands as a case study with the AWS, and as a case study with Healthcare Without Harm;
- Prioritising and enacting recommendations from the CREW Phase I baseline study of pharmaceuticals in the water environment in Scotland, and contributing to the Phase II study with SEPA to develop an interactive data visualisation tool with the environmental data and pharmaceutical prescribing data;
- Contributing to baseline research, including PhD projects investigating sustainable wastewater treatment methods (link and link), blue-green prescribing to reduce pharmaceutical usage (link), and pharmaceutical removal in septic tanks.
This work clearly aligns with the Scottish Government’s Hydro Nation agenda, and the OHBP is engaging with the private sector to establish a hub of expertise in this field that will support evidence-based policy and promote Scotland as a global leader in managing One Health and water related issues. Recently, the OHBP received funding from the Scottish Government Water Industry Division to drive forward work of the partnership.
