NHS warm homes trial boosts appetite for energy efficiency

Vulnerable households prescribed energy bill discounts by the NHS in a groundbreaking project have subsequently become more open to carrying out major insulation works, a new report has revealed.

The Energy Systems Catapult has outlined the findings from the Warm Homes Prescription (WHP) trial project that it has been running with energy advice agencies and NHS bodies in Aberdeen, Gloucestershire, London and Middlesbrough.

A total of 823 households, containing people who live in low-income neighbourhoods and suffer from health conditions that are made worse by the cold, took part in the trial.

Each household was provided with credits on their energy bill accounts that would enable them to heat their homes to a warm temperature.

Around four out of five recipients reported that they had heated their homes to a higher temperature than in the previous winter. This included 51% who increased their home temperature by 2 degrees or more.

Several recipients indicated that prior to WHP, they only turned the heating on for just a few hours during the day due to the high cost of bills.

Nearly half (47%) of the WHP recipients usually had the heating on during the trial as opposed to never or rarely beforehand.

Since receiving WHP, 93% of recipients said they now place a greater importance on being warm than they did previously.

At the end of the prescription period, 76% of recipients indicated they were more likely to make improvements to their homes to make them more energy efficient and easier to warm.

At the launch the report’s lead author, Rose Chard of the ESC, said: “All home improvements will come with some disruption and some change so for a lot of these households before they received a warm home, it seemed like too much to worry about with other things going on.

“But once they’ve actually experienced a warm home, they felt like the disruption that might come with it was more manageable and worthwhile.”

For these households, lower heating costs mattered less than the ease of carrying out works, she added.

The report also said 68% of recipients felt healthier since receiving WHP with those who took advantage of the prescription “significantly more likely” to report such improvements compared to those who never or rarely put their heat on. Health improvements reported included needing to take less medication or having fewer chest infections compared to previous winters.

Those who put the heating on more were also likely to report better mental health, which the report put down to lower money stresses.

And more than half of WHP recipients reported being less likely to spend time in bed or under blankets and more able to be more active in the home and not remain in one place with hot water bottles.

In addition, WHP recipients were more likely to use additional rooms within their home compared to beforehand, which Chard told the launch event would be particularly beneficial for those with cardio-vascular conditions that benefited from physical activity.

Chard also said that researchers had found the WHPs had lessened pressure on NHS services with fewer hospital and GP appointments booked by those who had taken part in the trial.