5 minute read
Wasted energy is wasted money – we can help cut both
Energy waste not only increases the carbon footprint of NHS primary care, it also wastes money.
The RCGP reports that 16% of general practice emissions come from energy use, while 69% of GP partners in their 2025 survey* identified lack of capital funding as the principal barrier to further sustainability action.
Yet saving energy can be achieved for very modest upfront investment – saving thousands of pounds in the long run, over years to come. Read on to find out how!
The first step is to check your energy housekeeping is in order. Are your energy bills safely stored in an accessible folder? Keeping track of consumption and understanding the costs being incurred is the starting point of any conversation about saving energy.
A bespoke energy audit (or survey) will shine light on potential savings. An audit typically takes up to 2 hours and in advance the auditor will need to see your energy bills for the past 12 months. They will provide advice, tailored to your practice, on how to slash your bills . Their report can also be used as a tool to increase your scores in the Green Impact for Health toolkit and to help meet the ‘Well-led’ part of the CQC assessment framework (environmental sustainability).
An innovative pilot was initiated in Cornwall through a collaboration between Greener Practice’s Cornwall group, Volunteer Cornwall‘s Health and Climate Resilience team and expert Cornish energy charity, Community Energy Plus (CEP). The charity has carried out audits for 24 GP surgeries in the county with projected average annual savings of £4000 per practice, with one projected to save £22,000 from making simple changes to their Economy 7 heating settings. See below for nuggets of wisdom from Dr Tim Jones, Chief Executive Officer of CEP.
We are able to come in with a fresh eye and assess your current energy consumption. For example, managing refrigeration is an area that practices often overlook. We see fridges and freezers set to unnecessarily low temperatures and on one audit we identified a fridge none of the partners were aware was plugged in, chilled and empty.
Refrigeration consumes a steady amount of energy and also generates heat as a waste product, which in itself can becomes an issue. Good management also includes managing what is stored in the fridge or freezer.
It helps to have the Practice Manager available during the audit to answer questions. For example, we often find immersion heaters keeping large volumes of water heated, in excess of any daily demand. Having someone on hand to help us understand the hot water needs of consultancy rooms etc means we can advise accordingly. Checking insulation of the building is also very important, which usually involves looking in the loft.
– Community Energy Plus CEO, Dr Tim Jones
Save energy and money in the Midlands and Powys!
Greener Practice has extended this pilot to benefit practices in the Midlands and Powys. Marches Energy Advice is replicating the Cornwall project in association with Greener Practice, supporting our mission to make UK primary care more sustainable. Prices start from £495 – see GP Surgery Energy Surveys – Greener Practice to sign up for more information. Our joint webinar explains the service MEA offer and highlights quick wins to start saving energy today.
Ben Webster, Technical Services Manager at Marches Energy Advice says, ‘Even inexpensive measures such as draught-proofing windows can immediately start to reduce bills and emissions. A large amount of energy is wasted on systems which people forget or cannot easily switch off. Devices are available to combat this, such as occupancy sensors or kill switches. There are many more quick win ideas on our website.’
Once you understand where your opportunities are for savings, it’s time to plan for action. Are you a Greener Practice NetworkPLUS member? If so, you have access to ready-made Quality Improvement Projects (QIPs) to take you step-by-step through the process of shrinking your energy consumption and carbon footprint. There are QIPs enabling you to optimise heating, use less electricity and switch energy supplier, plus projects to help you protect patients from the cold. In all, there are more than 50 QIPs to help your practice become more sustainable.
An energy audit is a cost-effective way to get started on your energy-saving journey and once you know where the opportunities are, our QI projects can help you make some of the necessary changes. It’s possible to start getting an immediate return on investment as soon as you begin implementing the measures suggested. These resources can help you save on heating, lighting and refrigeration costs and emissions, as well as improving thermal comfort of staff and patients in extreme heat as we prepare for hotter summers.
Your reward will be lower bills, allowing savings to be redirected into improving patient care, plus tonnes of carbon saved annually. In many cases, thousands of pounds can be saved every year, greatly offsetting the initial upfront investment in the audit.
– Dr Katrina Davies, Director of Greener Practice
*RCGP HM Treasury Autumn Budget 2026 Representation, September 2026