Savings in its sights for Somerset Trust

He argues that, at a time when all areas of the service are being asked to reduce costs, such partnerships can potentially save the institution millions of pounds and significantly reduce carbon emissions, while “revitalising” parts of the NHS estate, and ensuring continuity of vital hospital services for facilities managers.

With rising energy costs, the Government’s introduction of carbon taxes, and mandatory carbon reduction targets, the NHS is facing unprecedented financial pressures. Ageing estates and the need to protect funds for patient care are only adding to the pressures. Given such challenges, the NHS needs to think “outside the box” to make manageable improvements to its estate and free up cash to drive back into patient care. Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust did just that, and embarked on a pioneering energy efficiency project with Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, which I will go on to describe in this article. Firstly, however, some general background, which puts the need for such energy and money-saving projects firmly into context. The number of people using the NHS is huge; currently it deals with, on average, one million patients every 36 hours – almost eight per second. It is estimated that our population will increase by 10 per cent by 2030 to over 71 million, placing further pressure on a service that is already highly stretched. The world’s largest publicly-funded health service is indeed being tested to the limit in some areas, and dealing with tough challenges. Ultimately it needs to become more operationally efficient, improve its ageing estate, and make carbon savings all at the same time.

The highest energy users