Scarborough Hospital Trust's £8m funding bid to reduce carbon output failed, report says

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s funding bid for Scarborough Hospital failed, according to a report prepared for the Trust’s board.

The report said a grant application was made in October 2022 to the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which is providing £1.4bn of grant funding over the next two years.

It added that “due to the first-come-first-served system” the application was unsuccessful alongside several other submissions made before the Trust in a “heavily oversubscribed process”.

However, the Trust has said that it will be applying for a further £2.8m from a recently created scheme as part of the county’s proposed devolution deal.

In January, the York and North Yorkshire Net Zero Fund was announced as part of the York and North Yorkshire local authorities’ devolution deal, and the Trust has submitted two expressions of interest.

One is for £2.8m for the Scarborough Hospital building and transport decarbonisation scheme which consists of replacement lighting with LEDs, building energy management system upgrades and optimisation, and a solar electric canopy over electric vehicle car charging points.

The second expression of interest from the Trust, which has been submitted “in case the first one is rejected”, is for £791,000 “for just the Scarborough Hospital net zero and climate change assurance report building decarbonisation” scheme and is “the part that offers the greatest carbon saving for the amount of grant requested”.

“The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust strives to actively encourage, promote and achieve zero carbon emissions in all that it does, through its staff, its services, its premises, its patients and visitors, and its partners in line with NHS targets,” according to the Trust’s board-approved green plan.

The Government’s public sector decarbonisation scheme – which supports the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75 per cent by 2037, compared to a 2017 baseline – is set to open for a third round of applications later this year and has been noted by the NHS Trust.

The Trust’s board will discuss the report at its next meeting which is scheduled for Wednesday April 26.