The Background
The NHS is Britain (and Europe's!) largest employer and generates around 5% of all journeys. It has an obvious interest in promoting healthy travel, both to lead by example by instituting measures to increase physical activity; and also to reduce the congestion caused by the growing concentration of NHS activities on a smaller number of large sites.
Fortunately, cycling is receiving more and more attention from the Department of Health. Its current strategy for 'getting the nation moving', 'Be Active, Be Healthy', fully recognises the health, environmental and economic benefits of cycling. It also commits to working with partners to "...develop a new range of initiatives under the Bike4Life brand that will boost participation in all forms of cycling."
A major and very welcome Government initiative is Change4Life, launched to prevent people from becoming overweight. Physical activity is key to this, which opens up plenty of new opportunities to promote cycling.
Furthermore, the NHS in England has published a Carbon Reduction Strategy committing the service to reduce its carbon footprint by 60 per cent by 2050, travel being a target area. One of the Strategy's specific recommendations is that NHS Trusts should pay the maximum rates for mileage for low carbon options such as cycling. This is good news for Spokes, the NHS cycling network, who surveyed Trusts in 2008 and found that a significant proportion paid far less than the Treasury's maximum allowance of 20p per mile.
NHS Trust action
A few NHS Trusts have taken exemplary steps to promote cycling for their employees, but others may have some way to go.
CTC has produced a briefing for health trusts and authorities on promoting cycling, both for their employees and the communities they serve. It highlights the following reasons for the NHS to encourage work-related cycling:
- It’s easy, low impact and fun – you do not have to be fit to start gaining the benefits.
- It is non-competitive and doesn’t require you to join anything – people who are uncomfortable about “sport” can simply take cycling at their own pace.
- It’s a cheap, efficient and flexible means of transport – it is one of the very few ways to get exercise whilst simply travelling from A to B.
- For people who do not drive (including children and many older or disabled people) it can give them freedom to make local journeys on their own.
- It improves health, fitness and overall life-expectancy.
- It contributes to fat loss, disposing of around 5 calories a minute.
There are other benefits to Health Trusts from being cycle-friendly employers too:
- Employees who cycle to work are more productive: they arrive more alert, and take less sick leave.
- Cycle-friendly employers have found they can save substantially on the costs of providing car-parking spaces by offering their staff incentives to cycle instead.
- Cycling employees don’t contribute to or get caught in congestion on the surrounding roads
- By promoting cycling, health sector employers are seen to lead by example to their patients and other employers in the area: “practicing what they preach”.
CTC's briefing for Health Trusts on how to promote cycling provides the evidence to support these arguments, suggestions for how they can be cycle-friendly employers and good advocates for cycling in their communities more generally.
We have also collected a range of case studies (May 2008), giving good examples of Trusts that have set up programmes to encourage staff and visitors to cycle.
Go back to Cycle friendly employers webpage...
