Now the NHS tells you to help save the planet... by not going to see your doctor!
PATIENTS will be told to stay away from hospitals and GP surgeries under radical new plans by NHS Scotland to save the planet.
In a bid to address ‘the current climate and biodiversity emergency’, health chiefs will urge patients to receive virtual appointments rather than travelling to face-toface consultations.
Virtual and remote healthcare has become common during the coronavirus pandemic – but now looks set to continue indefinitely.
A new health service blueprint warns that traditional models of healthcare are inherently harmful to the environment – with use of medication exposing unborn babies to toxins and polluting water supplies, plus journeys by patients creating greenhouse gases.
Officials conclude that ‘the best environmentally sustainable medical care is one where there is no care’ and the NHS faces ‘an overwhelming need to act sustainably’.
Remote consultations in which patients send photographs of injuries or ailments to medical staff electronically are likely to become more common. However, the Scottish Government has admitted that patients who are not confident using technology or have poor online access may find it more difficult to access healthcare.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said that, while it was important to protect the environment, it should not be to the detriment of care.
He added: ‘I am certainly doing more remote appointments as a GP than I did before Covid.
‘While for some patients remote or virtual treatment may be appropriate, others will need a face-toface appointment with their GP.
‘[Health Secretary] Humza Yousaf must guarantee the NHS will have every resource to deliver appointments as quickly as possible and in the best way possible for every patient.’
The pandemic has transformed the way the NHS operates, with thousands of administrative staff working from home and virtual appointments for patients.
However, it seems increasingly unlikely to return to pre-pandemic operation as growing numbers of public bodies draw up plans to tackle climate change. The Scottish Government’s NHS Scotland draft climate change strategy is out to consultation while health boards are drawing up individual plans.
NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s new Climate Change & Sustainability Strategy delivers an extraordinary verdict on the devastating effects of NHS actions. It says: ‘The delivery of care within facilities and the services it provides generate an environmental footprint. This takes the form of greenhouse gas emissions, medicines into waterways, clinical waste generation and food from unsustainable sources.
‘Medical waste is burned producing dioxins which are linked to cancers, birth defects, neurological damage and reproductive toxicity.’
It goes on: ‘The most sustainable model of care is one in which fewer people need any care at all. The best environmentally sustainable medical care is one where there is no care.’
It says that in primary care it will ‘promote and support virtual consultations/clinics where clinically appropriate, highlighting the positive impact on the environment’.
Meanwhile, on transport it adds: ‘Patients can access our services through mechanisms such as telemedicine and localised management of long-term conditions.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Patients will always be able to be seen face to face where clinically appropriate.
‘The Scottish Government will work to make 20-minute neighbourhoods – where the things people need for everyday life are all located within a 20-minute walking distance – a reality across as much of the country as possible.’
The best environmentally sustainable medical care is one where there is no care
– NHS AYRSHIRE & ARRAN OFFICIAL STRATEGY DOCUMENT