Supporting Clean Air Day with greener forms of travel

Today is Clean Air Day, and with our ongoing commitment to sustainability and conservation throughout the hospital grounds, we strive to make sure that the air is also as clean as possible.

Air pollution is currently the largest environmental health concern we face in the UK and, while it affects everyone, some sections of society like children, the elderly and those with pre-existing respiratory and cardiovascular conditions are more vulnerable.

In the effort to reduce the number of emissions caused by travel, there are options to use greener methods of transport when visiting our Trust.

We know this won’t be suitable for all staff, patients and visitors, but at NNUH we have total capacity for 390 bicycles including outside West Out-patients, East Out-patients, Colney Centre and East and West Atriums. Beryl Bikes are also located near West and East Out-Patients.

Active travel such as cycling and walking has so many benefits – not only for our environment, but for ourselves too! Cycling to work can reduce your risk of developing cancer by 45% and cardiovascular disease by 46% and also lowers risk of mental illness such as depression.

For public transport options, there is the Costessey Park and Ride service and an airport park and ride which is commercially run.

There are also numerous bus services direct to the hospital provided by First Bus, Konect and Semmence.

We would love to encourage you to take the first step and see if you can use this day to try a more environmentally friendly form of transport to the hospital.

There are also small things that you can so to help. Idling is when a vehicles engine is left running or stationary for a period of time, which harms the quality of the air in the surrounding area, as well as contributing to the already sky-high emissions, by simply remembering to turn off your car when you are waiting around you can save on both emissions and money!

Amy Greengrass, Clinical Lead for Sustainability