Do campervans make the perfect room for on-call staff?

CAMPERVANS A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION FOR A&E STAFF

CAMPERVANS are being hailed as the perfect way to make work life easier for A&E staff. An emergency medical consultant claims that staying in her campervan when working on-call is the perfect recipe for a good night’s sleep.

Elspeth Pitt bought a Jerba Campervan in 2014 and has since used it to stay close to the hospital and waste no time travelling in when working on-call.

Elspeth, 50, said: “I had a small house that I’d use for my on-call duties for a while, as I live more than 30 miles from the Emergency Department where I work – but my van is more practical and cheaper.

“I did have a concern about working on-call and relying solely on a mobile phone network that could go down without notice, leaving me uncontactable – and one night this happened.

“Thankfully a colleague was able to just run outside and knock on my window when the emergency struck and I was able to run in and do my job in no time.”

Jerba Campervans is based in North Berwick and specialises in luxury conversions of the Volkswagen T6 model, transforming them into stylish homes on wheels made individually to the customer’s specification.

Elspeth added: “The hospital I work at is located on green belt space, so there isn’t an abundance of property. Some of our junior doctors stay at a friend’s house or a hotel at their own expense – but most commute from Dundee and Glasgow.

“Buying my Jerba was the best decision I’ve made in a long time. I keep telling all my co-workers how transformative it’s been. I’m close to work, well-rested and I know I’m safe as the hospital carpark has CCTV.”

Elspeth’s campervan also takes her and her family on holidays up and down the UK.

Simon Poole, Founder and Managing Director at Jerba, said: “Naturally, we’re thrilled to hear that our vans making life more sustainable for members of the medical profession.

“We know that our vehicles are great for holidaying, but to think that they also have the potential to improve the day-to-day working lives of emergency department workers is fantastic.”

Founded in 2005, Jerba Campervans became 100% employee-owned in January 2018 – a move which has seen the company significantly increase its profits and productivity.

The company is one of only very few UK VW T6 converters to have fully tested and certificated its conversions to European Whole Vehicle Type Approval – the highest level of European safety type approval.