Sustainable health and care records
At Patients Know Best (PKB), we’re committed to developing pioneering health and care technology that is sustainable for generations to come. By reducing the impact for patients, professionals, health economies and the environment, while altogether saving money, we’re well on our way to supporting the NHS to achieve the ambition ‘for a greener NHS’ with net carbon zero.
5% of carbon emissions
related to the NHS are due to
patient travel
Reduce carbon emissions - increase savings potential
Replacing in-person patient appointments, attendances and communication with remote interactions reduce carbon emissions and the air pollution emitted from trips to the hospital or GP. It also increases the savings potential for patients and health and care providers.
To estimate the average carbon saving per registered patient across four hospitals using the Patients Know Best platform, we partnered with the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition and the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network (AHSN).
The findings show that the deployment of PKB across the following four services has avoided approximately 127,000 kg CO2e being emitted each year:
The NHS estimates that moving outpatient appointments online could have avoided 58,000,000 miles over three months
Digital
consultations
Digital consultations reduce the need for face to face consultations, avoiding unnecessary travel and the creating capacity within a service to treat patients that most need in-person care and support.
Facilitate
self-management
Reduce the demand for services by enabling patients to manage their own condition safely. Using a consolidated PKB health record with its full range of features, patients have everything they need to manage their care remotely while knowing that help is at hand if needed.
This approach has been adopted at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and Luton and Dunstable NHS Foundation Trust.
“We need to think along these lines because one in 20 journeys on British roads is attributable to the NHS – employees driving to work, patients driving to consultations, ambulances collecting patients, and lorries and vans making deliveries. The carbon load is huge”
Reduce
unnecessary travel
Reduce carbon emissions by introducing remote monitoring and symptom tracking. With PKB, hospitals reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and admissions. PKB allows a patient to share information about their condition with health and care teams, anytime, anywhere. Even where a visit takes place, the patient is equipped with a complete digital health record for a more productive visit.
Make medical data
accessible
PKB health records are not restricted to a single provider or institution. They are untethered, making health and care information accessible to patients or anyone they choose including carers and professional teams, wherever the patient may need health and care.
Significantly improve
outcomes
With medical information about current and past conditions, treatments and recent test results all more readily available to health and care professionals, the patient can achieve better outcomes with fewer visits and less duplication in care delivery. It also allows professionals to make more informed decisions about patient care with a complete, real-time digital record.
Help to make paper obsolete
The PKB personal health record (PHR) platform allows patients to store digital versions of their health records to receive and exchange data with health and care providers. This substitutes the use of paper, helping to make paper-based health records obsolete.
Sustainability powered by a clear social purpose
As a certified B Corporation, we remain committed to leading innovation in health-tech with a clear social purpose. Sustainability is at the heart of our ambitions because we believe that by using PKB as a force for social good, we can have a positive and lasting impact on our employees, community, customers and the environment.
