Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prevent unnecessary patient journeys as set out in the NHS's plan for Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service, published on 1 October 2020.

The National Health Service is preventing unnecessary patient journeys through improved preventative medicine and enhanced digital care. As set out in Delivering a Net Zero National Health System, patient travel accounts for 5% of all NHS emissions. The Improving Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS) report published in August 2021 estimates that NEPTS journeys emit approximately 51,000-58,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. This constitutes approximately 20% of NHS direct travel emissions. NEPTS deliver 11-12 million journeys a year with approximately 37% for patients requiring renal dialysis. Each year, approximately £460 million is spent on NEPTS with the average cost per patient journey at £38.

No such assessment has been made on the proportion of greenhouse gas emissions or the cost of patient transport attributed to patients receiving in-centre dialysis.