On Friday 10 September, Mayor Boris Johnson presented NHS Wandsworth’s Physical Activity Team with an award to congratulate them on their work for the London NHS Cycling Strategy. The awards ceremony was hosted by the London NHS Travel Network to celebrate a landmark year for cyclists in London following the launch of the NHS Cycling Strategy.

The vision of the strategy is to remove the barriers to cycling in London and promote cycling amongst staff and the wider community. Mayor Boris Johnson, presented certificates to over 30 NHS organisations that have successfully implemented this fantastic scheme, which can help staff to boost their fitness and improve health as well as reducing carbon emissions through the encouragement of sustainable travel.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: "The wonderful thing about cycling is it has so many benefits. It is the healthiest form of transport, keeping you fighting fit whilst pumping you full of serotonin, endorphins and energy. I welcome the efforts of NHS London to promote cycling to its own staff and to Londoners as a whole. We know that employers find staff that cycle to work turn up full of beans and irrepressibly happy and healthy."

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson presenting the award to Emily Aidoo, Exercise Practitioner

In Wandsworth, more than 40 NHS staff members have signed up to the scheme, run by the Physical Activity Team of the PCT’s Public Health Department, and to encourage staff to cycle rather than drive, we now pay a cycling mileage fee of 27 pence per mile for business travel. NHS Wandsworth also offers expert cycle training to those who do not feel confident enough to cycle around London.

Caroline Straker, an employee at NHS Wandsworth who has recently joined the scheme, said: “Cycling to work gives me the exercise I need to stay fit, gives me extra money that I save in fares, gets me to work quicker and it helps keep my carbon footprint low.  Hooray for the Cycle to Work Scheme!”

September 22, 2010