Shropshire nursing boss: £16.2m investment making Royal Shrewsbury Hospital greener

I am pleased to tell you about a new energy facility, solar panels and the insulation measures that are to be introduced at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) as part of a £16.2 million investment.

The funding comes from Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. It will be used to replace and upgrade the current ageing heating infrastructure with modern and more sustainable energy sources.

The project will see the installation of heat pump technologies which will provide low carbon heating, hot water and chilled water to buildings across the hospital site.

This will enable the Trust to remove the old steam boilers and associated gas-fired equipment and fully “de-steam” the hospital estate.

These improvements will create a better experience for both patients and staff. When the work is complete, the investment could save an estimated £1m a year in energy costs and will reduce the hospital’s emissions by over 3,000 tonnes of carbon each year.

As a Trust, we are always seeking to achieve a high standard of patient care and experience and we are always looking for members of the community we serve, to help us with this vision. If you are passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), we would encourage you to join our EDI Advocates Group. For some people in the UK, there are still unfair and avoidable inequalities in their health and in their access to and experiences of NHS services.

Our Trust wants to address these inequalities to meet, and exceed, our patients cultural and specific health concerns.

As a member of the EDI Advocates Group, you would work collaboratively to support and challenge SaTH in identifying existing health inequalities and develop action plans to tackle and eliminate such issues.

The ultimate aim is to ensure everyone at our Trust has a great patient experience.

If you would like more information, or an application form, please contact my colleague Claire Eagleton (claire.eagleton@nhs.net) Lead Nurse/ Allied Health Professional for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Finally, if you are up for a challenge and would like to raise charity funds there is the opportunity to abseil from the top of the ward block at the RSH on Saturday 21 September.

SaTH Charity, Lingen Davies Cancer Fund and the RSH League of Friends have come together to raise funds to support those who are treated at our hospitals.

Details are available on the SaTH Charity website on sath.nhs.uk/about-us/charity/charity-abseil. The registration fee for the abseil is £78, this covers the full cost of hosting through our fully insured and experienced delivery partner.

This approach ensures every penny you raise in donations goes to the hospital. We are asking that those taking part aim to raise at least £100 in addition to the registration fee and our charity team is on hand to help you reach this target.

If you want to accept the challenge, be an inspiration and abseil for a great cause, please get in touch with the SaTH Charity team by emailing sath.charity@nhs.net or call 01743 492256.