Falmouth and Penryn Primary Care Network (PCN) has become the first group of GP practices in the South West to introduce a fleet of electric vehicles into its day-to-day operations, thanks to support from Lex Autolease, the UK's largest fleet management provider.

The PCN which consists of Penryn Surgery, Trescobeas Surgery, Westover Surgery and Falmouth Health Centre has invested in four Skoda Citygo-E vehicles which will be operated by GPs and healthcare professionals during routine home appointment visits and prescription deliveries.

Cornwall-based Penryn Surgery will control and manage the use of the fleet of vehicles across the PCN which together supports over 48,000 patients across the region.

The sustainable switch to electric vehicles replaces the PCN's business mileage scheme, which saw practitioners operating private, heavy-diesel vehicles for business use before being reimbursed for their travel.

The 100 per cent reduction in CO2 vehicle emissions forms part of the surgery's long-term drive to lower its overall carbon footprint.

Ryan Ohly, managing partner at Penryn Surgery, said: "This is a huge step forward for the surgeries across the PCN and our commitment to operating more sustainably.

"GPs and healthcare practitioners make relatively short journeys of up to 30miles a day to visit our patients, so it appeared a no brainer to explore switching to low-emission vehicles to streamline our operations and help to reduce our carbon footprint.

"The feedback we've received from colleagues has been incredible and I hope that our electrification journey can pave the way for more surgeries and primary care networks across the country to realise the potential that electric vehicles can bring."

Lex Autolease is part of Lloyds Banking Group Finance and Leasing that currently funds more than 1.1 million vehicles including more than 37,000 alternatively-fuelled vehicles.

Mike Craigie, healthcare relationship manager at Lloyds Bank, said: "This is a ground-breaking move at a time when GP surgeries continue to deliver first-class patient care during the ongoing pandemic.

"It's been encouraging to see the positive take up of fully electric vehicles by the staff at Penryn Surgery and across the primary care network.

"Ryan and his team have worked incredibly hard to integrate the vehicles into day-to-day operations and unlock the cost-saving potential that the fleet of vehicles delivers.

"We look forward to continuing to develop electrification solutions to help them achieve their sustainability goals."

As part of Lex's commitment to helping businesses along their electrification journey, the move to electric vehicles for Falmouth and Penryn PCN was supported by its partner Drive Electric, which provides expert advice on the right vehicle lease options for business customers looking to go electric.