Situation
The NHS set out to provide patients with direct access to their elective care information through the NHS App. The aim was to improve transparency, reduce missed appointments, and shift toward a more sustainable, paperless model of care.
Wayfinder was conceived as a national service to help trusts reduce waiting times and Did Not Attends (DNAs) by empowering patients to manage referrals and appointments in one place. NHS England needed a scalable solution that not only addressed patient engagement but also aligned with broader Greener NHS objectives.
Solution
Working with the Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE) and NHS England, Servita helped design and build the Patient Care Aggregator (PCA) that powers Wayfinder.
Wayfinder integrates seamlessly into the NHS App, surfacing key features such as:
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Appointment and referral visibility
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Real-time booking, amendments, and cancellations
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Notification and messaging capabilities
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Digital appointment letters and pre-op questionnaires
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Paperless preferences and past appointment views
Architected using sustainable-by-design principles, the PCA is cloud-hosted on AWS, leverages a stateless architecture, and is optimised with NodeJS and Kubernetes for efficient compute and minimal emissions.
But Wayfinder is more than a digital convenience—it has become a pioneer in environmental transparency and accountability in healthcare technology. It is the first live digital NHS service to formally report on its carbon impact, embedding sustainability metrics into its business case and delivery tracking.
As part of this, the Wayfinder team:
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Developed a carbon factor for DNAs (17.5 kg CO2e per missed appointment)
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Calculated a CO2e baseline for paper appointment letters (72g per letter)
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Measured digital carbon emissions per transaction, with the PCA generating just 1.37g CO2e per interaction
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Partnered with Greener NHS and Greenpixie to audit and validate environmental impact
These efforts have enabled the NHS to quantify the carbon benefit of digital transformation, setting a new precedent for sustainability measurement in health tech.
Wayfinder is now live across 112 NHS Trusts, used more than 118 million times, and continues to expand into new care settings, including mental health.
Results
Wayfinder is already demonstrating substantial environmental and operational benefits, including:
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488,000 fewer DNAs per year, avoiding 8.5kt CO2e emissions
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30 million fewer sheets of A4 paper, and 10 million fewer letters posted annually
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15,247 kg CO2e saved by reducing appointment-related phone calls
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1,114 tonnes of CO2e avoided per year through digital communication
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Over 40 million appointment updates handled digitally, reducing admin and cost
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99% reduction in emissions per appointment letter (from 72g to 0.057g CO2e)
These outcomes validate the original business case and demonstrate that well-architected digital services can deliver measurable carbon reductions at scale—without compromising patient experience.
Wayfinder’s impact goes far beyond emissions. It enhances patient empowerment, increases operational efficiency, and establishes a blueprint for how public sector digital transformation can support national sustainability goals.
Download the full environmental impact paper here:Wayfinder – Reducing the NHS’s Environmental Impact Through Digital Transformation