We were required to identify suitable and effective infrastructure, facilities, and initiatives that NHS Trusts could consider implementing within their sites that would reduce the need for vehicles to enter and use the car park. These measures were required to be sustainable and active travel focused as opposed to options to increase the parking provision.
Supporting the best practice guidance was a new car park policy that would provide greater clarity for NHS Trusts to consider, which focused on measures in place for staff, as well as patients and visitors. It was designed to create a consistent approach to car park management across all NHS Trusts in England.
To capture a view of the existing parking situation within NHS Trusts, our project team undertook site visits to 12 NHS Trusts across England, which included sites in the North-East, North-West, the Midlands, East of England, Central England, London, the South-East, and South-west. These site visits included interviews with facilities staff from NHS Trust sites who witnessed the parking behaviours on a daily basis.
The site visits allowed us to capture many examples of sustainable transport measures NHS Trusts had adopted to reduce the demand for parking in their car parks. Examples of these measures included:
These examples of best practice were written into case studies and included in the guidance document. Within the case study details were provided on the process involved for NHS Trusts to follow to implement similar measures.
Alongside the case studies, we identified further schemes, infrastructure, and initiatives that NHS Trusts could consider to reduce parking demand. This included improvements to car park signage, restrictions on where vehicles could park, and opportunities to deliver active travel infrastructure that could link into existing infrastructure on the public highway, reducing barriers to walking and cycling.
We produced a new car park policy to provide a consistent approach to parking across all NHS Trusts in England. This had a focus on concessions for disabled drivers, visitors with relatives who are gravely ill, and Staff working shifts when no public transport is available.
As a critical document within the departments portfolio of Health Technical Memorandums, it was necessary to carry out engagement with a variety of stakeholders to gain feedback on both the guidance document and car park policy. A national consultation exercise was carried out over an 8-week period. During this time, over 1,000 responses were received to an online survey issued. Supporting the online survey was a series of focus groups with NHS staff and patient groups, as well as drop-in sessions for the wider public to attend to better understand the work being undertaken and the impact this would have when visiting NHS Trusts.
The car park policy was also successfully approved by the Minister of Health and the Department of Health for issue as a national document. Since introduction, NHS Trusts have been managing car parks to a more consistent basis, which has reduced the impact in many Trusts.
Since implementation the best practice guidance has been shortlisted for an award for effort towards creating a more sustainable parking provision on a national scale.
