Travel and Transport

NHS related travel makes up about 5% of road journeys in England. The emissions relating to business travel are included in the 2040 net zero target, with the staff and patient visitor travel in the 2045 net zero target. NHS England released a Net Zero Travel and Transport Plan; the applicable targets are included in this section and within the Trust’s 2025 Travel Plan.

NGH has a minimal fleet, with a small number of lease cars and a van used within Estates and Facilities. The majority of business travel is undertaken in staff cars; the Grey Fleet. As such emissions relating to travel and its associated pollution come from travel relating to staff commute and patients and visitors coming to site.

Where we are now:

A travel survey has been sent to all staff in each of the past three years. This has shown an increase in bus usage and a reduction in the number of staff travelling to site alone. Using information from this and work done with GoTravel Solutions, a new Travel Plan was written and sent to staff for consultation and will be published in August 2025. In addition to the staff survey we also added a question to the Outpatients Survey asking how they travelled to NGH. This revealed that 75% of patients used the car, with only half of these parking on site.

We have installed pollution monitoring at the edges of the site and traffic sensors to show the movement of cars onto and off the site. This data was used in a number of staff engagement forums prior to the introduction of the ANPR cameras.

The Digital Team has improved the ability of staff to work flexibly and remotely through continuous investment in the network infrastructure as detailed in the Digital Transformation section of this plan.

In 2024 we undertook a piece of work with GoTravel Solutions funded by West Northamptonshire Council which reviewed the potential to increase the number of staff travelling to work by public transport. The actions from this have been incorporated into the Trust’s Travel Plan. NGH has also shared this work at Public Transport Forums run by the Council; as a result of this Northampton Saints, the local Rugby Club has also used the organisation to undertake a similar study for its matchday fan travel.

Our aims are to:

Reduce carbon emissions from business mileage by 10% compared to 2024/25

Reduce carbon emissions from staff commuting by 25% compared to 2024/25

Improve air quality around the site

Improve green spaces around the site for staff, patients, and visitors

Double the number of staff members coming to work using low carbon forms of travel

Travel and Transport Action Plan
Action	Financial Investment	When	Responsible Department
Implement Northampton General Hospital Travel Plan	Various	2027	Various
Offer only Zero Emission vehicles through salary sacrifice by December 2026	Low	2027	Finance
Make arrangements to purchase or lease only Zero Emissions fleet vehicles from December 2027	Medium	2028	Facilities
Review the Trust’s performance against the Clean Air Hospital Framework and implement measures to reach 'getting there'.	Medium	2027	Various
Create lower carbon options for working across University Hospitals of Northamptonshire sites	Medium	2027	Facilities
Work with local partners to increase public transport provision through the Health Anchor Network	Low	2027	Facilities
Work with local partners to investigate the options for a town-wide car club	Low	2027	Facilities
Work with East Midlands Ambulance Service to ensure the site is ready to implement electric ambulance charging infrastructure.	High	2028	Estates
Join Modeshift to share best practice with other NHS Trusts	Low	2025	Facilities
Promote bus use through discounted vouchers	Low	2025	Facilities