When it comes to ESG in Health and Social Care, there are still a lot of questions. Questions relating to costs, to what roll-out looks like, and questions relating to how best to manage sustainable practises when already juggling so many aspects of Care Homes, Later Living Facilities, and more.
But the truth is, when harnessing the real value of ESG, there won’t be a trade-off between operational efficiency and sustainable living. The two go hand in hand when you utilise smart technologies.
So, how can you harness smart technology as a way to enhance ESG performance, and enhance resident wellbeing? We’ll break down some of the low hanging fruit.
Smart Technology.
When managing a health and social care facility, resident wellbeing is paramount. So, when utilising smart technologies, it’s key to use them as a tool to enhance understanding and enhance efficiencies. This will ensure you optimise time for resident care and resident wellbeing, and in the context of ESG data; it will ensure you have a strong understanding of how residents are living in your spaces and will allow you to map out areas for further optimisation.
ESG can be veiled with confusion, but in the Health and Social Care context, if you strip it back to resident wellbeing and efficiency through the use of smart technologies; it can feel like a more manageable task.
Two examples of using technology to enhance ESG performance include:
1. Managing Unoccupied Spaces – Reduce energy consumption.
One of the quickest ways to transform your ESG performance, and reduce overall energy consumption and utility costs in Health and Social Care is by managing unoccupied spaces. This sits mainly with the E in ESG, but also touches the S through social value; as more comfortable spaces for residents will enhance resident wellbeing.
Using ESG technology like Utopi can allow Care Providers to break down room level data, and by using temperature as a proxy for energy over usage, reduce energy consumption in spaces that are unused. For example, it could be turning the heating off in resident bedrooms that are empty or turning the heating off in shared spaces in a care home.
Using the combination of PIR sensors and temperature data via the Utopi Multisensor, you can match up occupancy with heating and optimise energy control where needed. It’s a great example of prioritising ESG and managing the day-to-day performance via organised operations through real-time data.
Working with two key brands in the Care Home sector, we are seeing clients use weekly reports from the Utopi platform to understand the outliers in temperature data – generally rooms over 22°C-25°C – and in doing so, actively managing those spaces to reduce overall energy consumption and reap the rewards of the associated reduction in utility costs.
2. Operational Efficiency – Understand space optimisation and reduce waste.
Enhanced operational efficiency is also a great way to prioritise ESG, and in doing so, improve the living conditions and wellbeing of residents.
Low hanging fruit for operational efficiency includes:
- Space optimisation – Understanding how residents are using spaces, and if there are underutilised spaces like communal entertainment rooms or cinema rooms either re-mapping what purpose those rooms serve; or as stated above, turn the heating off in empty rooms in real-time.
Smart technologies like Utopi can ensure you get this granular data in real-time, allowing you to be empowered to make decisions quickly and reduce waste. Waste in the context of energy consumption, and waste in the context of product use, services and amenity bills. Thus, giving you more time and budget to curate better care environments for your residents.
There are a lot of questions around ESG, but these are some easy ways to start to transform your ESG strategy and start to reduce emissions and associated utility costs. One thing is for sure though, it has to start with data. Data allows for understanding and analysis, and then you can create bespoke ways to enhance operational efficiencies; and without smart technologies, gathering the right level of data is impossible.
If you have any further questions on Utopi or ESG performance in the context of Health and Social Care, make sure to reach out via our website or via the Autumna Green Committee. It’s important to start somewhere, and by starting with low hanging fruit, we feel you can make sustainability a key part of your business operations today.
Author: Matthew Taylor, Alternative Markets Lead