The University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) NHS Trust is using the money saved following the installation of over 1,000 solar panels to support hundreds of local patients who are living in fuel poverty.
The project is a partnership between UHNM, Staffordshire-based charity Beat the Cold, Southern Staffordshire Community Energy Limited (SSCE) and community stakeholders. It helps to prevent vulnerable patients living in cold, damp houses or fuel poverty.
SSCE receive income from Feed-in-Tariffs and from UHNM for the purchase of all of the electricity generated by the panels. This creates a return for the investors and a surplus which accumulates into a ‘community fund’.
Buying the electricity generated by the panels, reduces demand on the grid and gives UHNM cheaper, more resilient supply.
The community fund is utilised in order to run an intervention for vulnerable patients that reside in Staffordshire. Patients are assessed by a member of the UHNM treatment team to understand if their condition is exacerbated by living in a cold home. For instance, if they are presenting with frailty, respiratory conditions, or hypothermia, the patient may be referred with their consent to Beat the Cold.
The intervention includes an ‘affordable warmth’ service to patients in their homes. This is a review of the patient’s energy tariff and subsequent support to help them switch to a new provider if appropriate.
The service also signposts patients to other related services and helps to provide advocacy support for any relevant issues.
Abigail from Stoke-on-Trent has mobility issues and struggles when bathing. Thanks to Beat the Cold, she now has a smart boiler which helps to control the temperature of her home.
Abigail said:
It is a marvellous boiler. It’ll come on early in the morning and then it goes off. I don’t have to touch it. It is really good.
Louise Stockdale, Head of Transformation and Sustainability at UHNM, said:
The ‘Keep Warm, Keep Well’ project is a huge benefit for the community which surrounds the Royal Stoke and County Hospitals.
The scheme not only supports those most vulnerable with the cost of living crisis by improving the energy efficiency of their homes, but it also helps to massively reduce carbon emissions through the use of the on-site solar energy panels.
The project contributes to improvements in patients’ physical and mental wellbeing, as well as improving patient flow and wait times in our hospitals as patients can be discharged quicker.
