Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital Bicycle User Group are an exception as they now have a Patron, Lord Butler, who has enormous influence, for he is the Chair of the Board of King's Health Partners. His Board members include the Chairs and Chief Executives of King's College Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas', and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts.
No paper Patron, Lord Butler has a track record of achieving cycling improvements - he secured a Barclays Bikes docking station near Parliament despite stiff opposition .
Staff are delighted to now have somewhere secure to leave their bike adjacent to the elegant Evelina Children's Hospital that was opened in 2005.:
This is a fine addition to the previously extremely limited secure cycle parking at G&ST and marks the way to the dynamic cycling future that, as I covered previously, the hospitals need to embrace.
Perhaps the next step could be for Lord Butler to arrange for his board members to visit Groningen's comparable University Medical Centre, one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands. On this page are details, and a small image, of one of their parking facilities, accommodating 725 cycles. And on this page are details of the one accommodating 1500 cycles.
Bring on the evolution!
