I am the only staff member of 75 in the NHS unit where I work who cycles in. And that is probably a good thing at the moment as facilities are literally non-existsent: I don’t see how my unit could support more than 3 or 4 of us doing so.
Working amongst nurses (presumably your largest group of workers by far) for 10 years now, I would say that the ‘negative’ things will be very poorly recieved. Restricting parking passes will not make anyone give up driving, it will just make them annoy local residents or businesses by parking off-site, and they will resent the hospital for increasing the effective length of their working day by having a real mission to park somewhere else. It may also be misinterpreted as a money-saving or ‘access for patients/customers’ scheme at the expense of the staff.
What i think would make a big difference for nurses at least would be:
1) properly secure bike parking near the building. Preferably with swipe card or keycode access so you don’t have to go crazy with a huge bike lock and your bike seat is dry. (I know i know, but that is something my non-cyclist colleagues always ask me about my bike being locked up out in the rain!)
2) biiiig changing and showering facilities. Once people get into the mindset that they can have their daily shower at work instead of at home it reduces the feeling that this cycling nonsense is eating into your home life and making you all icky at work.
3) With hairdryers. Yes, much of the group that you are reaching out to are nurses and most of them at least in general, childrens and midwifery are women who will definitely prioritise hair. Mrs Julian has bought her own hairdryer for work but works in a small-ish unit with very few cyclists and has dodged having to get it PAT tested. You will need PAT tested ones or weall-mounted swimming pool type ones otherwise you will get into all sorts of H&S bother.
4) Big lockers.
5) FFS bring back uniform laundering for nurses: (but have the collection point near the changing facilities rather than going up to the ward to fetch it to go back down to the changing room…) they will need to take less stuff in with them, they will look less crinkly cos it hasn’t come in a rucksack or got soaked in the rain.
6) yes big drying room also coded/swipe access door. In a limitlessly-funded world it would have ‘lockers’ with drainage underneath and grilles top and bottom so your stuff was not nicked and nice and warm when you finish your shift.
And yes financial help too: cycleschemes and local discounts, perhaps in return for ‘sponsoring’ your new facilities. Many folk don’t know anyone who can fix bikes so perhaps making a few of yourselves contactable about bike woes would be nice too: if they are small enough hospitals then “that bloke who works in MAU” will not seem too much of a stranger to help someone sort their seat angle out etc.
I guess the other obstacle you will get is funding: all the above idealist stuff would cost much more set up and to maintain than better bus stops and big staff car parks: you need to be clear about the health benefits of cycling as the reason for all this because effectively much of the total cost of travelling is passed on to the hospital rather than epople buying their cars and paying for their petrol etc.
