LAST weekend a group of local doctors met to search for a cure to the climate emergency.

Among the group were consultants and GPs from Extinction Rebellion to share ideas about the health professionals’ role tackling climate change.

The General Medical Council states that ‘it is a doctor’s duty to promote patient health and the public health’.

And the Doctors for Extinction Rebellion group (DXR) believe this means tackling the health effects of climate change and their causes.

Dr Lesley Morrison from Peebles told us: "The group believes the climate crisis is a health crisis, that people are already suffering from its effects and that suffering will increase.

"We say it’s the poor who’ll suffer most and discussed how to raise awareness of climate change as an issue of social justice."

Vast amounts of energy, much of it coming from fossil fuels, are consumed by the NHS and it is also responsible for producing huge quantities of waste.

The DXR group acknowledge the NHS is making changes but that it needs to do more, and faster.

At Sunday’s meeting, Doctors for Extinction Rebellion, discussed ways of including the health aspects of the climate emergency in undergraduate and postgraduate education and ways in which the Health Board might act.

Newcastle Health Authority has declared a climate emergency and published plans for responding to it in partnership with their local authority.

The Borders DXR group looks forward to Borders Health Board doing the same.