An electric fleet addresses only part of healthcare’s travel footprint. Staff need to reach work, patients and visitors need access to care, and services generate travel through the way they are organised. A useful roadmap has to connect these different sources of demand with actions that local organisations can take.
Methods
UCL researchers combined behavioural evaluation, survey research and policy analysis to examine the sources of NHS travel demand and the measures available to reduce their emissions. The work organised action around electrification, shifts towards sustainable travel and greater travel efficiency. It developed a performance and monitoring framework spanning NHS fleets, staff commuting, patient and visitor travel, infrastructure and sustainable transport, so that national objectives could be translated into measures that local organisations could track.
Findings
The analysis showed that fleet electrification needed to sit alongside measures that change when and how journeys are made. Recommendations covered local travel plans, active mobility, parking, public transport and shared mobility. They also addressed the travel implications of digital care, flexible working and appointment scheduling. The resulting roadmap grouped these measures into a practical intervention portfolio and linked them to monitoring, allowing organisations to assess carbon reduction together with access to work and care.