Gloucestershire Hospitals

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1 Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust TRUST POLICY TRANSPORT POLICY Any hard copy of this document is only assured to be accurate on the date printed. The most up to date version is available on the Trust Policy Site. All document profile details are recorded on the last page. All documents must be reviewed by the last day of the month shown under review date, or before this if changes occur in the meantime. FAST FIND: For the Trust s transport objectives, see section 5. For financial objectives relating to transport, see section 6. This policy is linked to a number of other documents, which are all listed on the main policy page. The principal related documents are the Green Travel Plan, Access and Egress Policy and Lease Vehicle Guidelines. There are also a number of action cards detailed on the main policy page. DOCUMENT OVERVIEW: The NHS is the largest public sector contributor to climate changes, and nationally the NHS generates around 5% of all journeys in the UK, resulting in a travel-related carbon footprint of 3¼ million tonnes of CO 2 per year All NHS Trusts are required to develop travel plans and policies which aim to reduce carbon footprints and make sustainability a priority This document sets out the Trust s expectations and targets related to all aspects of transport and travel and details how measures will be identified, implemented and monitored, and what action is required by managers and staff This document may be made available to the public and persons outside of the Trust as part of the Trust's compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 1 OF 10

2 Gloucestershire Hospitals TRANSPORT POLICY NHS Foundation Trust 1. INTRODUCTION 2. DEFINITIONS 3. PURPOSE 4. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 5. OBJECTIVES 6. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 7. PROVISION OF TRUST VEHICLES 8. VOLUNTEER TRANSPORT SERVICES 9. USE OF OWN VEHICLE ON TRUST BUSINESS 10. PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS 11. TRAINING 12. MONITORING OF COMPLIANCE 13. REFERENCES Action Cards TNP1 TNP2 TNP3 TNP4 TNP5 TNP6 TNP7 Use of Taxis and Hire Vehicles Volunteer Transport Services Use of Fuel Cards Road Traffic Accidents and Incidents Loading and Unloading Activities Use of Private Vehicles on Trust Business Use of Trust and Pool vehicles TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 2 OF 10

3 Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust TRANSPORT POLICY 1. INTRODUCTION The NHS is the largest public sector contributor to climate changes, and nationally the NHS generates around 5% of all journeys in the UK, resulting in a travel-related carbon footprint of 3¼ million tonnes of CO 2 per year. All NHS Trusts are required to develop travel plans and policies which aim to reduce carbon footprints and make sustainability a priority. This policy must be read in conjunction with the Access and Egress documents, Green Travel Plan, Business Travel guidelines, Lease Car guidelines and procedure, and the action cards. All of these documents are available via the main policy page. 2. DEFINITIONS Word/Term Sustainability Green Travel Trust vehicle Lease car Pool car Hazard Information Card Descriptor Activities which are capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment Responsible travel that helps to conserve the environment Vehicle purchased (or leased) by the Trust Vehicle owned by a fleet management company which is leased to an individual for Trust and private use Vehicle owned by a fleet management company which is leased to the Trust for a group of individuals/department to use for Trust business only Written information on a hazardous material, detailing the nature of the hazard, protective measures and emergency measures to be employed in the event of an accident or spillage. To be carried in vehicles transporting any hazardous material. 3. PURPOSE This document sets out the Trust s expectations and targets related to all aspects of transport and travel and details how measures will be identified, implemented and monitored, and what action is required by managers and staff. 4. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Post/Group Director of Estates and Facilities Transport Manager Line Managers operating vehicles on Trust business Line Managers Transport Review Group Details Development and Implementation of this policy across the Trust Overall responsibility for transport issues Implementation of this policy Participating in tendering processes for vehicle contracts Maintaining transport services to the Trust Ensuring that all safety requirements are met Ensuring economical and sustainable use of the vehicles in their control Maintaining all relevant documentation relating to vehicles and their users Ensuring all staff are aware of the Trust s travel options/schemes Maintenance and review of this policy and related documents Reporting to the Trust Board and Sustainability Group on transport-related issues TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 3 OF 10

4 5. OBJECTIVES The Trust Board have set out the following general objectives: Ensuring safety and security Ensuring accessibility Meeting sustainability and green transport requirements Increasing efficiency Developing appropriate travel plans Working towards reducing unnecessary travel 5.1 Ensuring safety and security The Trust will meet the need for safety and security by: Managing access and egress measures across both sites, including appropriate segregation of vehicles and pedestrians according to the Access and Egress Policy Appropriately maintaining roads and pedestrian walkways across both sites and ensuring appropriate lighting Ensuring that all Trust vehicles are appropriately repaired and maintained Ensuring that all employees who are required to use Trust vehicles are appropriately trained, and that licences are checked regularly (see action card TNP7) Ensuring that access to the use of Trust vehicles is appropriately restricted Ensuring that any carriage of dangerous materials and/or biohazardous materials is appropriately managed, and that vehicles are supplied with hazard information cards and spillage kits Ensuring that all confidential materials are appropriately protected during transport Ensuring that employees who use their own vehicles on Trust business are aware that they are using them as workplaces in respect of smoking regulations etc. 5.2 Ensuring accessibility The Trust will meet the need for accessibility by: Ensuring that Trust employees are supported with accessible parking where required Ensuring appropriate accessibility on both sites for patients and visitors (see Access and Egress Policy) Ensuring that 100% of new buildings meet Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) transport assessment requirements 5.3 Sustainability and green transport The Trust will seek to: Reduce the impact of motor vehicle travel by encouraging green travel options (e.g. use of cycles, walking, car sharing, the use of carbon-efficient vehicles, bus fare subsidies, 99 shuttle bus) Encourage energy efficiency through the use of greener transport (e.g. use/purchase of electric vehicles, diesel vehicles) Review the use of Trust vehicles, lease cars and pool cars, including monitoring fuel usage and mileage where appropriate Review Business Travel policy to include provision for discouraging the use of high carbon vehicles Replace Trust vehicles sustainably, either as a capital purchase or via leasing, ensuring that CO 2 - efficient vehicles are given first preference Carry out regular checks on cycle use and maintain the Cycle Scheme Instigate a car share database and aim to increase the number of car sharers year-by-year Make both sites more cycle- and pedestrian-friendly when reviewing access and egress measures Use recycled or recyclable materials for maintaining roads and pedestrian walkways on both sites Ensure progress of sustainability measures by setting and reviewing targets to reduce the Trust s carbon footprint, aiming for a year-on-year reduction Reduce transport-related noise on both sites where practicable Investigate the possibility of offering a salary sacrifice scheme for annual transport passes TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 4 OF 10

5 Review parking policy with the view to maintaining the current position or making planned reductions over a number of views Investigate the use of electric vehicles for Trust activities 5.4 Efficiency The Trust will seek to improve efficiency by: Monitoring Trust vehicle use and routes, including the use of a vehicle tracking system Monitoring mileage and fuel use Prioritising parking needs and ensuring that parking is fairly enforced (see Trust Car Parking procedure) Monitoring and reviewing freight management to reduce the number of Heavy Goods Vehicles which have to access to the sites Encourage rail travel for long-distance business journeys where feasible 5.5 Developing travel plans The Trust will produce a Green Travel Plan to enable the organisation to work towards sustainable/green travel options which: Promote health and wellbeing amongst Trust employees Investigate the feasibility of the environmental benefits of reducing Trust vehicle traffic (commuting and travel on Trust business) Provide corporate benefits in terms of demands on Trust travel and parking resources Reduce the costs of transport to the Trust The Green Travel Plan will be reviewed annually. 5.6 Working towards reducing unnecessary travel The Trust will work towards reducing unnecessary travel by: Encouraging teleconferencing where appropriate Working towards smarter planning of meetings to minimise travel Offering carbon-efficiency incentives on car parking permits (i.e. fee scaling according to carbon emissions) 6. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 6.1 Financial objectives The Trust will seek to ensure that all transport measures employed are cost-neutral, or can be counterbalanced against savings elsewhere. These will include: Reducing the cost of business travel Reducing the cost of the purchase and maintenance of vehicles Exploring the benefits of leasing Trust vehicles to save capital expenditure Reducing the costs to the Trust of the lease car scheme (see Lease Vehicle Guidelines) Working towards reducing the costs of fuel by purchasing/leasing fuel efficient vehicles 6.2 Meeting financial objectives The Trust will work towards meeting these financial objectives by carrying out a series of detailed reviews and developing this policy further to ensure year-on-year improvements which can be directly related to the general objectives. The areas for review and development are: All costs associated with the purchase and use of Trust vehicles TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 5 OF 10

6 All costs associated with the lease/pool car scheme, including reducing the costs of insurance by reviewing excess payments and carbon efficiency-based user allowances (see Lease Vehicle guidelines) Patient transport criteria Criteria for the use of hire vehicles see action card TNP1 Criteria for the use of taxis see action card TNP1 Vehicle procurement criteria 6.3 Vehicle procurement Prior to the lease/purchase of a vehicle, managers will be required to assess the specific needs of the department/area, which will form part of the specification for the vehicle required. All assessments will include sustainability criteria and managers will ensure that the following are taken into account: Visibility and reversing aids, including visual and sensing devices Appropriate seating and seatbelts Driver protection from dangerous parts, bad weather or inhospitable environments Fork lift trucks: driver protection from overturn and falling objects Adequate access and egress points from the vehicle, including slip-resistant surfaces 6.4 Trust transport contracts and service levels agreements (SLAs) The Trust operates the following transport contracts and SLAs: Private ambulances the Trust has contracts with AM Medical and Patient First for transport of patients between the Trust and their homes, nursing homes, care units or community hospitals Funeral Director the Trust has a contract with Alexander Burns for transport of deceased patients to the City Mortuary Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (GWAS) a service level agreement exists between NHS Gloucestershire and the Trust to facilitate the emergency and routine transport of patients, and in exceptional circumstances, the transport of deceased patients to the City Mortuary Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust a service level agreement exists between NHS Gloucestershire and the Trust to facilitate emergency and routine transport of patients who live in Wales West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust a service level agreement exists between NHS Gloucestershire and the Trust to facilitate emergency and routine transport of patients who live in the West Midlands Air Ambulance operated by Bond Air via GWAS, the Air Ambulance service provides emergency transport of patients from accident scenes to both CGH and GRH, and the transportation of GHT patients to other sites Taxis the Trust has a contract with Andy Cars for any use of taxi transport subject to the conditions in action card TNP1 99 bus service a contract exists between the Trust and Stagecoach UK bus for the provision of the 99 bus service which runs between GRH, CGH and the Cheltenham Racecourse Park and Ride. Full details of the bus service and its timetable can be found at on the Transport and Parking webpage All contracts and service level agreements are reviewed at least annually and are put out to tender where appropriate. 6.5 Business travel expenses All details of the arrangements for the payment of business travel expenses are detailed in the Business Travel Guidelines. 6.6 Hire vehicles and taxis The Trust permits the use of hire vehicles and taxis in a limited range of circumstances. All use of hire vehicles and/or taxis must be appropriately authorised before booking, and the processes are detailed in action card TNP1. TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 6 OF 10

7 7. PROVISION OF TRUST VEHICLES The Trust undertakes to provide a range of vehicles to enable essential services to be undertaken. These are: Vans for the use of the Trust Transport Department Vans, tugs and electric vehicles for the use of the Estates and Facilities Department Van for the use of the Pathology department Electric vehicles and tugs for the use of the Waste Disposal team Vans and pool cars for the IT department Vans for the use of Retinal Screening Vehicle for the use of the Trust X-ray department to work in the community Vehicle for the use of the Pharmacy department to facilitate work in the community Vehicle for the use of the Catering department for site-to-site meal transport Pool vehicles for the use of departments undertaking a high level of business mileage Lease cars for the use of individuals undertaking a high level of business mileage Full details relating to the use of all Trust vehicles are available in action card TNP7. Detailed information on the conditions relating to the use of Lease and Pool vehicles are available in the Lease Vehicle Guidelines 8. VOLUNTEER TRANSPORT SERVICES see also action card TNP2 The Trust is grateful to receive volunteer transport services from the following networks: Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service Freewheelers is a registered charity which provides a free out-of-hours motorcycle courier service to hospitals in the South West. Details of how to access these services are available in action card TNP2 Cotswold Centre for Voluntary Services a registered charity operating in Cirencester, Tetbury and Fairford which provides patients with transport to and from hospital appointments and in-patient stays Volunteer patient transport through GWAS provides patient transport across the GWAS areas; booked through bed management GWAS co-ordinator Bad weather transport the Trust invites volunteers with 4-wheel drive/suvs to assist with urgent staff and/or patient transport in the event of severe weather disrupting the transport network. Details of how to request bad weather transport are described in action card TNP2 All volunteer transport services except Freewheelers receive mileage payments through the Trust. 9. USE OF OWN VEHICLES ON TRUST BUSINESS see also action card TNP6 Some employees may be required to use their own vehicles to carry out Trust business. The conditions and requirements relating to this are detailed in action card TNP6. The Trust is responsible for ensuring that the same requirements relating to safety and the protection of sensitive materials and information applies to employees using their own vehicles when they are carrying out these duties. 10. PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS The Trust will aim to work as part of local and regional frameworks to ensure that there is a broad consistent approach to sustainable transport. This will include working towards county objectives for green travel. 11. TRAINING There is no specific training associated with this policy, but all managers who have a responsibility for transport in their area are expected to be aware of this policy and to act upon its contents. TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 7 OF 10

8 12. MONITORING OF COMPLIANCE Criteria (objective to be measured) Compliance with policy Ensuring development initiatives are carried out Compliance with financial and efficiency objectives Monitoring methodology Transport Manager reports to EFC divisional board Action plan and regular updates Internal audit of compliance Lead responsible Transport Manager Transport Manager Timescales Quarterly Quarterly Reporting arrangements Recommendations will be made to the EFD divisional board Transport manager presents action plan and updates to EFD divisional board Internal Audit Annual Report to EFD divisional board 13. REFERENCES NHS (2009). Saving Carbon, Improving Health, NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy for England. London: NHS. Department of Energy and Climate Change (2008). Climate Change Act. London: Her Majesty s Stationery Office. UK Faculty of Public Health (2009). Sustaining a Healthy Future, taking action on climate change. Special focus on the NHS. London: Her Majesty s Stationery Office. NHS (2008). Sustainable Development Strategy. London: NHS Sustainable Development Unit. Her Majesty s Government (1996). Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations London: Her Majesty s Stationery Office. TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 8 OF 10

9 TRANSPORT POLICY DOCUMENT PROFILE DOCUMENT PROFILE REFERENCE NUMBER B0623 CATEGORY Non-Clinical VERSION 2 SPONSOR Ian Tait, Director of Estates and Facilities AUTHOR Transport Review Group (technical authoring support, Kym Ypres-Smith) ISSUE DATE November 2012 REVIEW DETAILS November 2015 review by Director of Estates and Facilities ASSURING GROUP Trust Policy Assurance Group APPROVING GROUP Transport Review Group APPROVAL DETAILS Policy application: 21/11/2012 Policy approval: 27/11/2012 TPAG approval: 27/11/2012 CONSULTEES Transport Review Group, Transport Department, Pathology, departments using Trust or pool vehicles, Procurement DISSEMINATION DETAILS Upload to Policy Site; global ; cascaded via divisions KEYWORDS Transport, travel, sustainability, vehicle RELATED TRUST DOCUMENTS Action cards TNP1, TNP2, TNP3, TNP4, TNP5, TNP6, TNP7 OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS Business Travel Policy, Access & Egress Policy; 99 shuttle bus timetable Lease Vehicle Guidelines EXTERNAL COMPLIANCE STANDARDS AND/OR LEGISLATION Equalities Act 2010 Kyoto Protocol European Directive 2001/42/EC TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 9 OF 10

10 Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT INITIAL SCREENING 1. Lead Name : Ian Tait Job Title : Director of Estates and Facilities 2. Is this a new or existing policy, service strategy, procedure or function? New Existing 3. Who is the policy/service strategy, procedure or function aimed at? Patients Carers Staff Visitors Any other Please specify: 4. Are any of the following groups adversely affected by this policy: If yes is this high, medium or low impact (see attached notes): Disabled people: No Yes Race, ethnicity & nationality: No Yes Male/Female/transgender: No Yes Age, young or older people: No Yes Sexual orientation: No Yes Religion, belief & faith: No Yes If the answer is yes to any of these proceed to full assessment. If the answer is no to all categories, the assessment is now complete. Date of assessment: Completed by: Ian Tait Signature: Director: Job title: Director of Estates and Facilities Signature: This EIA will be published on the Trust website. A completed EIA must accompany a new policy or a reviewed policy when it is confirmed by the relevant Trust Committee, Divisional Board, Trust Director or Trust Board. Executive Directors are responsible for ensuring that EIAs are completed in accordance with this procedure. TRANSPORT POLICY PAGE 10 OF 10