The Warm Home Prescription pilot was delivered by Scarf in partnership with NHS Grampian, on behalf of Energy Systems Catapult.
Living in a cold home can raise the risk of a number of health conditions, with an estimated 10,000 people dying each year across the UK as a result.
The NHS spends over £860million treating people living in cold homes in England alone. To address this issue, Energy Systems Catapult created ‘Warm Home Prescription’ (WHP) in response to the challenge of helping low income and vulnerable individuals stay warm, well, and out of hospital through the winter months.
The programme looked to prescribe warmth by providing around 500 households, where a resident had COPD, with financial support for their heating bills over the winter of 2022, to heat 2 rooms to between 18-21 degrees.
Through this Scarf were able to support these households with nearly £300k of payments directly to the households energy supplier or with prepayment vouchers.
The overall results from the project were as follows:
- 70% of recipients reported that Warm Home Prescription had a positive effect on their mental health.
- 79% of recipients found it had a positive impact on their physical health.
- 93% of recipients indicated that they place greater importance on being warm than they did before the trial.
- 94% of health professionals were satisfied with the Warm Home Prescription experience.
- 98% saying they would take part in Warm Home Prescription again.
Finally, 76% of recipients reported that after Warm Home Prescription they were more likely to make improvements to their homes, to make it more energy efficient and easier to heat.
The full report from Energy Systems Catapult on the project can be accessed here.
We are proud to have been involved in a trial that proves the importance of energy efficient homes and the impact of a warm home on positive health outcomes, and are thankful to Energy Action Scotland for recognising this work.
David Mackay, Co-CEO of Scarf said:
‘We were delighted to be involved in the project particularly at such a difficult time for households. Scarf were pleased to support Catapult delivering the programme to demonstrate to UK/Scottish Government to look at old problems and consider new solutions. To consider the NHS budget for prevention rather than firefighting.’
