The switch to remote appointments in the NHS is playing a key role in helping to reduce carbon emissions, a senior NHS official has said.

More than a third of GP practice appointments are now classified as remote, mostly conducted over the phone. Now the NHS head of sustainability, Dr Nick Watts, has said they are helping reduce carbon emissions.

He told a recent conference that remote appointments had saved 276 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide emissions last year. “Broadly, we think that is an intervention that should save carbon,” he said, arguing that many patients will choose remote appointments if they are given the choice.

A critic of remote appointments, Dennis Reed, of the Silver Voices organisation, said: “I’ve heard a lot of arguments in favour of remote appointments, but none as left-field as that. We can’t sacrifice health and safety concerns about remote consultations on the basis of environmental savings. People don’t go because it’s fun or a leisure choice, they go because they want to discuss symptoms that need clarification or help.”

An NHS spokesperson said: “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. 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.”