On their bikes

Caremark Doncaster’s Care Assistants are being told to get on their bikes – although they won’t need to put the pedal to the metal!

That’s because we have bought state-of-the-art eBikes to make it even easier for their carers to get around the city.

We have teamed up with e-Bike manufacture Eskuta to acquire two branded bikes.

The difference between this and other e-Bikes is that it is built like a motorcycle (hence it doesn’t require people to pedal) whilst still having all the other benefits of an e-Bike, such as no requirement for a driving licence, no road tax required and it can be used in cycle and bus lanes.

Caremark Doncaster decided to make the investment, worth just under £6,000, in order to help carers who currently don’t have access to a car.

Alison Springall, Caremark Doncaster Care Manager, explains: “Although we always place our carers as near as possible to their own homes, many get to their customers by walking from home to home, whilst in some cases they need to take the bus.

“By acquiring the eBikes, we are now making it even easier for staff to get to their customers on time, whilst saving money and helping the environment in the process.”

The Eskuta SX-250 eBike can reach a speed of 15.5 miles per hour and has a range of between 40 and 50 miles between charges. It takes up to 7 hours to charge to full and this only costs 12p for every charge.

Clare Kulik, Eskuta Chief Operating Officer, said: “We demonstrated our e-Bike at the national Caremark franchisee conference in January and it has been fantastic to see the response.

“The bike are inexpensive to run, efficient and for companies like Caremark they will hopefully encourage more people to come and work in homecare, especially those without a driving licence and their own car.

“And from a Care Assistant’s point of view, it gives them more convenience and flexibility to get to and from appointments, saves them money on public transport and promotes positive mental health and wellbeing.”