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West Middlesex Hospital cuts travel costs by 40% with one EV

Andy Finlay, performance and operations manager at West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, explains how one electric vehicle has enabled the trust to make significant costs savings. 

West Middlesex University Hospital has saved close to £25,000 after launching an electric pool car scheme. 

Prior to introducing the Nissan Leaf, provided by Alphabet, the trust spent £45,000 on taxi fares in 2013 for therapists visiting patients’ homes. 

After introducing the car in June 2014, each member of the hospital’s therapy team has used the pool car at least once. PSE was told the vehicle is now used instead of taxis whenever possible, removing the need to administer fuel cards or garage receipts. 

Andy Finlay, performance and operations manager at West Middlesex University Hospital, said: “The need for the staff to go out into the community is never going to disappear, and the greater the ageing population that we serve the number of journeys we make will increase. 

“At first, the staff were a little apprehensive with the EV, but I would say 99% of them like the car and really like how it works. 

“It also means they don’t have to wait around for taxis. We also have local parking permits for the two boroughs that we serve – so they can virtually park anywhere in the community – and can park anywhere on the trust site because the car is exempt from parking charges.” 

Physiotherapist Stephen Bass, who was the first to drive the car when he and his colleague Amanda Matthews took a patient home after a stroke, said that driving the electric car was a “bit disconcerting” to begin with, because there was no engine noise, but it was easy to drive and very smooth. 

“It is also better for the patients as it can be a stressful and emotional time going on a home visit and sometimes when we have to wait on the ward for taxis, this can add to the patient’s anxiety,” he said. 

“With us in control of the car we can make sure the patient gets to the car on time, meaning they are less worried about going home for the first time after their stroke. The size of the car also means that it is easier for the patients to get in and out of it.” 

Infrastructure already in place 

Before West Middlesex procured the Nissan Leaf, there were already six charging points in place for electric vehicles in its car park. Finlay explained: “About two years ago, Transport for London gave a lot of public buildings electric charging points, free of charge, and we got six. Therefore, all the grounding was there for us to deliver a decent saving from it, if we decided to start using electric vehicles.” 

However, after deciding in December 2013 to go down the electric fleet route, the trust had to overcome the NHS’s procurement framework policy, which requires the introduction of a minimum of two to five fleet cars as opposed to just one. 

“We went through the NHS framework, the London Procurement Partnership, but no-one would lease us a single car,” said Finlay. “No-one would give us that ‘proof of concept’. You can’t just come along with a good idea in the NHS and say ‘it’ll work’; you need to satisfy a multi-layer of people before you can get a ‘yes’. 

“So, instead, we went on the public sector framework and found Alphabet, which doesn’t generally supply to the NHS. However, we asked them to quote and they were the only one who would provide us with one car.”

He added that through one of Alphabet’s brokers, the company was able to provide the trust with the car and arrange an insurance policy solely for one vehicle. The account manager also gave the trust all the information needed to write the terms and conditions for the car’s users. 

Reduced carbon footprint 

Since the trust introduced the electric pool car, Finlay said it has been able to cut travel costs by approximately 40%, which has been redirected into patient care, while reducing the hospital’s carbon footprint. 

“A lot of NHS organisations today are scratching their heads over their carbon footprint,” PSE was told. “But this shows what can be done.” 

The trust it buys its electricity in bulk to keep prices low. “But it only costs us about £1 to charge the car,” said Finlay. “Also, the Leaf is quite clever. A SIM card in the car gives you an indicative figure of where your carbon footprint was, to where it is now. For example, I can see where the car has gone and how many trees we’ve saved. It is a little like F1 telemetry, my eco-tree record for January 2015 is 168 trees, and that’s pretty much been the average month-to-month.” 

The hospital plans, hopefully within 2015, to extend the use of its pooled electric cars and bring on board another Nissan Leaf, potentially to be used in A&E. 

(Image: L to R: Stephen Bass, physiotherapist; Andy Finlay, performance and operations manager; Christina Richards, clinical services manager for older people and head of therapies; and Amanda Matthews, senior occupational therapist.)

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