The scheme sees the Trust partner with Enterprise Rent-A-Car to provide employees with a safer and more efficient business travel programme than the previous grey fleet usage.

Instead employees will now have access to 10 Enterprise CarShare vehicles based at York Hospital for short business trips in and around the area.

Richard Vincent, assistant director of estates & facilities at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, commented: ‘The Enterprise CarShare system will make it easier to comply with our duty of care responsibilities, particularly in terms of vehicle roadworthiness. The system was simple to introduce as it not only incorporates vehicle provision but also the administration for registering users and booking the cars.

‘Using Enterprise is also far more cost-effective than the grey fleet and means we’re no longer paying out thousands of pounds in mileage reimbursement. All staff who would otherwise use their own vehicle or public transport to travel on Trust business are eligible to register for the Enterprise pool cars and are encouraged to use them.’

The pilot programme is initially targeting selected employees based at York Hospital and the plan is to expand car sharing and rental within the hospital and to other hospitals run by the Trust.

Adrian Bewley, director of business rental at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, adds: ‘Community-based organisations are starting to realise the high incremental costs and risks associated with discretionary travel, especially if employees are allowed to use their own vehicles. The grey fleet is costly, awkward to manage and results in people driving cars over which their employer has no control. York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has taken a major step towards controlling those costs and risks by taking a long, hard look at how it provides business travel.’