Seeing a GP remotely is greener, says NHS
HAVING fewer face-to-face GP appointments is good for the environment because it saves pollution from people travelling to the doctor, the NHS has said.
Remote appointments saved around 276 kilotons of CO2 emissions “principally” from avoided journeys over the past year, Dr Nick Watts, the head of sustainability at the NHS, told a recent conference.
“Broadly, we think that is an intervention that should save carbon,” Dr Watts told a panel on reducing emissions in the NHS.
Dr Watts is in charge of helping the NHS meet its world-first pledge to be net zero in carbon emissions by 2040. In-person GP appointments have still not returned to pre-pandemic levels, despite a £250million push last year to increase the number of patients seen face-to-face.
Figures from April show 63 per cent of GP appointments were held in person, compared with around 80 per cent prepandemic, according to NHS Digital.
Last month, Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, acknowledged that the rise in remote GP appointments meant opportunities to diagnose dementia had been “lost”.
As part of the push to get patients back into surgeries, GPS have been told they must give the option for a face-toface consultation and provide more same-day appointments.
Dr Watts told the panel that the NHS still needed “to do a better job of ensuring we are providing access to every patient that requires that” and give patients choice as to whether they can attend appointments.
But he added that “if you provide patients with choice” many will choose remote appointments, saving some carbon emissions in the process.
A spokesman for the NHS said enabling remote appointments for those who wanted them was beneficial.
“Allowing those who want it to get routine NHS care or advice without leaving home, or taking time off work, to travel to a hospital or a surgery is clearly a better option for them and for our environment,” a spokesman said.
“But face-to-face appointments will always be there for those who prefer them, or whose symptoms or condition means they are the right approach clinically.”