Primary Care Trust - Travel Plan learning set
Tackling travel plans in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs)
Primary Care Trusts face specific difficulties in implementing travel plans; split sites with low staff numbers, often rural locations, poor access by public transport and practical problems in car sharing. With financial problems and ongoing staff changes, this sector of the NHS is lagging behind in travel plan development.
The Government Office for the South West and Sustrans have established a "Learning Set" with a group of southwest PCTs, to identify the specific problems they face and seek solutions. The set will apply the combined expertise and creativity of trust representatives, Sustrans and consultants from the TransportEnergy BestPractice programme, to tackle the problems facing each trust in turn.
A Learning Set report has been produced by Government Office for the Sout West, Department of Health and Sustrans. Download a copy of Moving Forward with the South West PCT Travel Plan Learning Set.
Key issues that have emerged so far:
- Partnership: it's easier to deliver a travel plan in partnership with neighbours. Many local authority travel plan co-ordinators have developed such partnerships for business parks and districts. Details can be found at http://www.transportenergy.org.uk/developtravelplan/travelplannetwork
- Relocation: many PCTs and local authorities are bringing together primary healthcare services and social services. Aside from improving service to the community, this offers a potential ready-made travel plan partnership and the possibility to share transport services.
- Board champions: implementing a travel plan would be hard work without board level support and leadership.
- Improving Working Lives: effective travel planning has a large net positive impact on the quality of working life for the staff as a whole. IWL offers the flexibility to create incentives for those staff who travel actively to work.
Healthy Travel Newsletter Issue 8 covers the results and findings of the South West PCT Learning Set and looks at a parallel project in Nottingham.
Download Healthy Travel newsletter - Winter 2003
For further information on the SW set, please email jane.horne@southwestdorset-pct.nhs.uk, for Nottingham please contact helen.greenwood@nottscc.gov.uk
If you require further information please email: activetravel@sustrans.org.uk
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