Patients reap rewards of a leaner, greener fleet

Taxpayers and patients are reaping the rewards of a fleet’s investment in technology to help track its vehicles.

In a single year, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTH) has cut tens of thousands of pounds from its fuel bill and reduced its fleet size by more than 20%, while retaining the same number of drivers.

Its 38-strong fleet now travels 780,000 miles a year – 220,000 fewer than its previous annual mileage – and produces 40 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide.

But even in the face of such enormous financial and environmental savings, it is still managing to increase its workload and improve patient care.

“The system is essentially allowing us to do more for less,” says Dave Taylor, the trust’s facilities manager for transport.

“It’s improved our planning, helped the fleet be more efficient and enabled us to use our vehicles more effectively.”

LTH’s vehicles, including delivery vans and staff shuttles, were fitted with a glovebox mounted device from Minor Planet in April 2009 allowing them to be accurately tracked via a computer screen.

“We looked at the work which was coming through the department and how a number of hospital services had dedicated vehicles,” says Taylor.

“You would have a vehicle that only ran pharmacy around, one that only served pathology and so on.

"But there was only so much you could do with a paper-based system in terms of trying to combine these services and make the vehicles work more efficiently.”

Planning more effectively

The team was clear that telematics could allow it to plan more effectively, while increasing the number of multifunctional vehicles on the fleet could give them the flexibility they needed, while reducing overall vehicle numbers.

“We had vehicles criss-crossing across the various sites and we knew we had to join up these services,” says Taylor.

“The telematics system really helped us deal with that problem, because it gave us the ability to see everything in real-time. We were able to see where the gaps in our schedule were and accurately identify where the downtime was.”

Chris Ayres, deputy head of facilities, adds: “We were also able to look at how the system could help us respond more effectively.

“If we had a request from a GP surgery to make an impromptu collection we were now able to look at the vehicle which was best placed to do that allowing us to enhance the service we provided.

“In practice, this could be a patient sample where the results are crucial to deciding the next stage of treatment. It reinforced what a fundamental part we play in that chain.”

Winning board approval

Ayres and Taylor did not want to disclose how much the system cost to install, but said they had already recovered the costs from the reduction in their fleet size.

“The fleet was due for replacement so we tied that together with our planned investment in telematics to win approval from the board,” says Taylor.

“We were able to get rid of a few of the older, less fuel efficient vehicles and replace them with newer multifunction vehicles.”

Overall, they calculate the measures they have introduced have so far saved £44,000, while they have also helped other departments in their day-to-day planning.

For example, viewing systems have been installed within the departments they work with, enabling them to track deliveries.

“They can log on to the system and, while they can’t influence the information, they can see where the vehicles are so they know if there’s going to be any delays,” explains Taylor.

“It is helping them plan their resources better.”

LTH does a lot of high response work where its ambulance drivers report to the theatre directly and takes the tissue, the organ or the specimen to wherever it needs to go.

Now the trust can instantly tell when the journey has been completed. In the case of pathology, it means a pathologist can be on standby to carry out a diagnosis and an operation can continue.

“It cannot get any more critical than that,” says Ayres.

“We’ve now got the technology to enable us to go out there and get new business,” he adds. “It’s making us much more commercial in the way we think.

“We’ve already identified a number of services the trust sub-contracts out that we can bring back in-house without having to add to our fleet.

“That brings a massive saving to the trust, which can instead be focused on patient care.”

Delivering driver confidence

Talk to drivers about telematics or tracking devices and the conversation will soon turn to the ‘spy in the cab’.

But Taylor explains a big consideration for them in implementing a telematics system was to improve driver safety.

“We had lone workers within the department and when you’re transporting pharmaceuticals, for example, we wanted to be able to monitor the vehicle so if there was an issue we would be able to locate that vehicle straight away,” says Taylor.

“We also specified that the vehicles should have a panic alarm fitted, giving our drivers an
additional reassurance.”

Communication was key and all issues were discussed with the unions and staff before
implementation, while Minor Planet provided the team with a range of leaflets and advice guides.

“In addition, we had an open door policy and encouraged anybody with any concerns to come in and discuss them with us,” he explains.

Messages were always delivered in a positive light, rather than just focusing on how the system monitored the vehicle.

“That included how disputes about speeding tickets or traffic incidents would be able to be resolved quickly, helping to avoid staff being falsely accused,” he says.

System supports driver training

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust assesses most of its drivers in-house after key managers and supervisors attended the SAFED assessors’ course.

It focuses on developing safe and fuel efficient driving techniques and if it identifies any issues with a particular driver further on-the-road training is requested.

Dave Taylor says the fact the telematics system produces reports on driver behaviour helps them bolster this approach.

“We recognised the added value the system could give us in backing up what we were doing with SAFED training,” says Taylor.

“If it’s felt there is an issue and training is necessary we can step that up to the next level and get a company in to do this for us.

“Initially, I think some drivers were a bit sceptical about being put through the course, but the feedback was very positive and that filtered down to the other drivers.”

He adds: “We’re not trying to teach people how to drive, we’re just looking at the process of driving and what can be done.

“For example, is there anything that can be done to reduce a driver’s fuel consumption? We all pick up bad habits, but until they are quantified and you actually sit down and
point out what they are, they’re not going to be addressed.

“They’re professional drivers at the end of the day and if we expect them to drive to a certain standard it’s important that we support them in any way we can.”

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