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Dorothy House's EV chargers are powering the community

We find out more about how installing EV chargers has helped visitors to the hospice...

 

Founded by Prue Defour in 1976, Dorothy House provides compassionate care and support for people in the community with a life-limiting illness.

To help the hospice provide easy on-site EV charging options for people who work at and visit the hospice, Action Net Zero connected Dorothy House with the installation experts at EVC.

We spoke to Paul Vinyard, Head of Estates & Facilities at Dorothy House, to find out more about their new EV chargers, and how they're helping users of the hospice. 

Paul manages environmental compliance, such as Streamlined Energy Carbon Reporting, and responsibilities under the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme, and leads on projects to help reduce the carbon footprint at Dorothy House. 

"Our focus is on quality of life, helping patients to live well and die well."

As well as a 10-bed in-patient unit and day patient services at Winsley, Dorothy House's community palliative care teams care for people across a 700sq mile area, covering BaNES, Wiltshire and Somerset – in fact, 90% of their care is provided out in people’s homes and community settings. The organisation also has 27 shops across the region who help generate income to support their vital work. The care they provide is free.

"We have a long-established, dedicated and voluntary “Green Team” made up of employee representatives from a variety of departments and roles across the organisation. It has influence and enables employee voices to be heard."

The decision to install EV chargers came from an in-depth project run by Dorothy House's ‘Green Team’ - a cross-departmental group of environmentally-minded individuals who drive change and ensure the business is considering it's environmental impact.

The group proposed installing EV points in the car park at the Dorothy House Hospice in Winsley to encourage the use of electric vehicles, as part of their commitment to sustainability.

"We were delighted to then be awarded a grant by the Rank Foundation, via Hospice UK, to pay for the majority of the equipment and installation work."

In November 2023, four active bays with two dual chargers went live. The chargers are available to all staff and volunteers who work at the Hospice, as well as patients and their families, visitors and those who live in the local community. They all pay the same rate via the EVC Plus app.

Over the last 6 months, the team have seen a steady increase in the use of the chargers, particularly during the current financial year (from April 2024). Between November 2023 and the end of May 2024, there was a total carbon saving of 268.62kg.

"We monitor usage on a monthly basis, and look forward to seeing continued and increased use of the chargers."

Sustainability underpins our key values at Dorothy House. Following approval of the Approach to Social Value paper (which includes a section on environmental improvement) by the Board of Trustees in December 2023, a review of how sustainability will be managed going forward is underway. This review is being carried out in conjunction with consultants Balanced Energy who will help, inform and support the team in identifying and achieving our sustainability goals.

"During the last financial year, Dorothy House has continued to implement energy efficiency initiatives to reduce its environmental impact where possible."

These initiatives are a continuation of previous ESOS recommendations as well as initiatives resulting from our internal ‘Green Team’.

These initiatives included:

  • Ongoing installation of LED and motion sensor lighting around our facilities;
  • Installation/upgrade of gas and electric smart meters across our estate is ongoing, as/when we acquire new retail premises;
  • Installation of water butts in the Winsley grounds and gardens.

The solar array in the grounds of the Hospice is under active review to explore the feasibility of increasing solar panel capacity and installing an export meter and storage batteries. The current set-up consists of 208 panels and, following analysis in 2023, generates around 24% of our electricity required at the Hospice.

The Green Team is also leading on an initiative to improve the sustainability of long-term investments from an environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) perspective, by working with their wealth management provider to review the potential options.

In early 2023, an initiative led by the Green Team resulted in Dorothy House's pension scheme (for those not part of the NHS pension scheme) default fund to be changed. The new ‘My Future Focus’ default fund invests a proportion of money in holdings that satisfy ESG factors, which aim to do the best for the planet and for generations to come.

"Following the introduction of our Social Value paper, our review of sustainability will include employee engagement and culture."

All employees are encouraged to recycle where possible, and the Winsley site in particular has numerous recycling points available.  

"Whatever the organisation, large or small, we can all do something!"

Paul detailed a few more free and low-cost ways for businesses to reduce their environmental impact: 

  • Arrange for smart meters to be installed, if not already in place, to accurately monitor energy use and identify where potential savings could be made. Suppliers offer this service for free and provide a portal so you can access data;
  • Following the phasing out of fluorescent lamps, it is an ideal opportunity to start using LED lamps that offer low-cost and energy-efficient lighting;
  • Encourage employee engagement to help reduce energy use – altered behaviour can result in saved energy, i.e., switching off lights and equipment when not in use, car-sharing and cycle to work schemes etc;
  • Look at your energy provider – how is their energy generated and could you move to a greener tariff?
  • Find out what others in your industry/sector are doing and share ideas.

 

We so excited to see Dorothy House taking strides towards greener business, and wish them all the best with their future activities. 

Find out how your business could do things more sustainably here.