Two pilot schemes which have reduced business mileage saving NHS Lanarkshire thousands of pounds are to be rolled out at the end of August.

A car hire scheme, piloted within labs over the last year, has reduced business miles by almost 40 per cent, while a car pool scheme piloted over the same period at Kirklands Hospital and Law House saved over 49,000 business miles, totalling over £27,000.

The desire to reduce business miles followed a review of the NHS Lanarkshire grey fleet in 2012 which recommended a reduction the large number of staff who use their own vehicles on business.

Marie Porteous, head of sustainability and environmental manager, said: “Using lease, hire or pool cars is a cheaper, safer and less environmentally harmful option than staff using their own vehicles.

“The cost of staff using their own vehicles over the course of 2015/16 was almost £2.5million.

“Given the financial constraints we currently face, savings made from reducing business miles can go towards patient services.”

The car hire scheme is operating successfully within the biomedical and labs teams across the three acute sites, PSSD and Coathill Hospital.

It will soon be available to all staff who don’t have a lease car if their journey is over 50 miles or longer than four hours. They will be able to use the Enterprise B2B website to hire a car, which can be delivered to their home or work.

The car pool scheme has seen over 300 staff at both Law and Kirklands register, allowing them to book a car for journeys less than four hours or 50 miles.

Chris Sanderson, head of procurement based at Kirklands Hospital said: “I joined the health board in January and registered with the scheme.

“It’s very easy to use the website to make your booking and also very simple to access the car.

“All in all, the whole experience was excellent.”

All staff will be sent an email alert from the providers Enterprise inviting them to register for both schemes.