I am absolutely delighted that the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) today confirmed that their board has accepted the IPS's application to become a member. The UKHACC is a coalition of 45 (now 46!) healthcare organisations who are working together to address and highlight the health impacts of climate change, as well as identifying and championing ways to make healthcare more sustainable and less damaging to the planet. Those organisations include several medical and surgical Royal Colleges, the Intensive Care Society, the BMA and the Florence Nightingale Foundation, so we are in excellent company!

IPC, and practices associated with IPC, are often - rightly or wrongly - seen as a barrier to sustainable healthcare. We know that actually IPC practitioners are part of the solution, as with our expertise we can help organisations see what practice is necessary due to genuine infection risk and what is just yellow-washing (to use a term recently coined at the IPS conference!). The IPS having a seat at the table is an important step forward in us helping with this agenda, and also sends a message that IPC practitioners see the importance and urgency of driving change in this space.

Jo Taylor, who many of you will know as a recent IPS Treasurer, will become the IPS's representative on the UKHACC Council which meets twice a year. I will attend monthly UKHACC policy meetings and be a point of contact between the two organisations. We will share learning from those meetings through the Sustainability SIG and through future Digest articles, while doing our very best to represent the IPS and its new Strategy. 

There is a critical relationship between climate change and infectious diseases. Membership of the UKHACC provides opportunities for collaboration, policy influence, education, and advocacy, all of which can help the IPS address the evolving challenges in infection prevention and control that are influenced by climate change. This partnership will not only align with the IPS's mission but also contribute to the broader effort of protecting public health in the face of a changing climate. I am hugely grateful to the IPS Management Executive Group for supporting the proposal to become a UKHACC member. 

Graham Pike
IPS Sustainability in IPC SIG Coordinator