Heartbeat: New fleet goes green

October 20, 2021

Sustainability, environment and air quality – not necessarily three things you would associate with a new fleet of vehicles, but they proved the winning combination as our Trust took delivery of a new fleet of environmentally friendly focused vehicles earlier this year.

Whilst patients might simply associate the brightly lit ambulances with the NHS, it actually takes an incredible fleet of vehicles and drivers to keep a busy NHS Trust ticking over. Ferrying colleagues from site to site, picking up supplies and moving equipment – it’s all in a day’s work and it all has an impact on our surroundings, the environment and ultimately the health of our staff, patients and public.

With an aging fleet of vehicles and improvements in technology it was clear we had an opportunity to meet our practical needs whilst making sure we made the right choice for our future and the environment we live in. The call went out our suppliers to meet our stringent requirements and they delivered the perfect mix.

With their pristine paintwork and proudly embellished logos the new vehicles rolled in to the Trust, with fully electric Nissan Leafs becoming our new general transport vehicles currently being used by our anticoagulant teams to our security team taking delivery of their Hybrid Toyota Rav 4.

Delighted with the new vehicles, Transport Deputy Manager Jay Akbar said: “We knew our old vehicles were in need of replacement and we had the ideal opportunity to meet the sustainability goals we have been trying to meet for some time. We have always been limited by the fact the demand we placed on our vehicles far surpassed the technology available so electric vehicles until recently just weren’t practical, but with improvements to technology and the roll out of charging points across the Trust, our dream became a reality

“We’ve been able to take a fresh look at our fleet and to match it to our current needs and to the needs we will have as we develop to our new models of working transitioning to Midland Met. We will have more reliance on smaller, more manoeuvrable vehicles and the improved emissions and fuel economy will improve our finances and health.”