Members of the District Nursing team in the Down area of the South Eastern Trust are delighted to get behind the wheel of 5 new electric vehicles following a £2.8m investment by the Trust’s Transport Department. The electric fleet of cars for community based staff is a first within a Health & Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.
The key handover took place on 30th June, with the Trust’s Transport Manager Richard Walker presenting the new vehicles to District Nurse Cathy Gracey and Community Staff Nurse, Lisa Ross and They have been put to use straight away!
The zero emission Vauxhall Corsas will be predominately used within the Downpatrick Community by the District Nursing Team. This will be of great benefit to the team in providing care to the local community.
Assistant Director for Community Health Care Services, Veronica Cleland says, “The introduction of the new vehicle fleet is very much welcomed and a necessary addition to the District Nursing Team, particularly with the rise in the cost of living, which is having a great impact on our Community Staff. The vehicles will assist our community colleagues to meet the clinical needs of our vulnerable patients in the local community. I would like to thank he Transport Team as electric vehicles will reduce expenditure and also importantly our carbon footprint in the Trust”
Transport Manager Richard Walker stresses, “It is vital that our fleet is kept up-to-date and our Trust has the most modern and fuel efficient vehicles. There are plans to expand this pilot project later this year. Our Transport team travelled an impressive 1,662,000 miles during 2021/2022, so we felt it was appropriate to add these zero admission vehicles to our ever growing fleet.”