Berrywood Hospital in Dunston, Campbell House in Northampton and St. Mary’s Hospital in Kettering have deployed two vehicles each, which will all be available for public use at evenings and weekends through the E-Car Club sharing scheme, with loans starting at an hour.

During business hours, one of the vehicles at each site will be reserved for staff. It’s hoped that this will reduce grey fleet mileage and cut the trust’s carbon emissions, as well as encouraging car sharing rather than ownership in the local area.

Paul Bertin, chairman of the trust said: “As a trust we have made a commitment to reduce our carbon footprint by 28% by 2020 and by encouraging our staff to park up their own vehicle and use an electric vehicle for business travel will help us move towards achieving this target.”

E-Car Club managing director, Chris Morris added: “Our mixed-use approach will allow the trust to use the vehicles to deliver their crucial services during working hours, whilst opening up availability of the vehicles to local community members during evenings and weekends, which is when demand from these groups is generally at its highest.”