Along with every other charity and almost every individual in the country, ECT Charity has been facing unprecedented pressures on its resources due to significantly increased costs. As such, we are having to look at ways in which we can improve our efficiency whilst continuing to provide as many of our services as we can. We will also be investigating alternative sources of income to help support our charitable aims.
As a transport organisation, we have been particularly impacted by the recent turmoil in fuel availability and its massively increased cost. For the month of March alone, our fuel bill increased by £20,000 but we are not able (nor willing) to simply pass this cost on to our passengers.
Our focus is on providing sustainable services to our passengers and in particular, those isolated or unable to easily access mainstream transport. However, if we do not cover our costs over the long term, we would soon be unable to provide any services at all.
We are also keenly aware of our environmental impact and ensuring we play our part in reducing emissions. Over time we will have a zero-emission fleet, but in the short term we recognise that we need to work on increasing the average number of passengers on each bus and reducing mileage when no-one is on board.
The local NHS are already one of our key partners. We know that they face phenomenal pressures on their resources and also on their beleaguered staff. As a part of our review of services, we will be evaluating how best to support them and whether there are any new ways in which we can help. We will focus on continuing to deliver our PlusBus for Health service and support social prescribing (i.e. the means of enabling GPs and other primary care professionals to refer people to local, non-clinical services to support their health and wellbeing).
The world in which we are all living is changing and we are all having to adapt to factors outside our control. At ECT Charity, we will do as much as we can for as many as we can, but we too will need to accept the need to change. Our intention is to minimise the impact this may cause to our supporters and beneficiaries, but if anyone finds these changes cause them particular issue, we are here to listen. Please contact our offices as we will always do what we can to help.
