Smart eHealth utopia? Environmental Impacts of Virtual Appointments in the NHS

Digitally-enabled healthcare is high on policy agendas in England, with, for example, roll-out of “virtual wards” forming a key pledge in the Prime Minister’s first speech of 2023. Policy discourses arguably present a smart eHealth utopia, in which digital innovations such as video appointments save money and improve patient care, while at the same time delivering environmental benefits. However, evidence on the environmental impacts of eHealth (including energy impacts) is very scant.

A current project, “Environmental Impacts of Digital Services for Health and Wellbeing in the Home” explores this area through empirical research with NHS professionals, focusing on virtual appointments. Our early findings suggest challenges to utopian visions of eHealth, with patients, practitioners, institutions and infrastructures not always conforming to prevailing imaginaries of the smart digital future. This talk reflects on professionals’ lived experience of eHealth, and how a better understanding of real-world impacts could help guide the design of sustainable digital services.