NHS Western Isles Active Travel Consultation

Introduction

The NHS Western Isles is carrying out a feasibility study and concept designs aimed at improving the accessibility in the hospital grounds across three key sites within the Western Isles.

The sites are:

Western Isles Hospital, Stornoway

Uist and Barra Hospital, Benbecula,

St. Brendan’s Hospital, Barra.

This project is designed to encourage walking, wheeling, and cycling as practical, appealing options for patients, staff, and the wider community.

NHS Western Isles have been awarded funding through the Sustrans Places for Everyone programme which looks to deliver walking, wheeling and cycling improvements across the country.

Learn more about the concept designs and tell us what you think at our in-person drop-in engagement event being held at the NHS Western Isles Hospital on the 20th March 2025 between 11am and 2pm.

In addition, a presentation will be available to view on this consultation hub from the 17th March 2025. If you have any questions you would like answering as part of the presentation please email info@ethosconsultants.co.uk or submit the questions as part of the online survey.

Take Survey

Design Considerations

As part of the project, a structured approach has been taken to assess and determine the most suitable active travel infrastructure for hospital sites within the Western Isles. A key factor in this assessment is the hierarchy of active travel infrastructure, ensuring that walking, cycling, and wheeling facilities are designed to maximise safety, accessibility, and connectivity for all users.

Where feasible, traffic-free paths are given the highest priority. These paths provide the greatest road safety benefits by physically separating pedestrians and cyclists from motor vehicles, reducing the risk of conflict with traffic. However, implementing fully traffic-free routes is challenging due to the constraints with the availability of space and the need to retain access for all vehicles.

In situations where traffic-free paths cannot be delivered, shared-use paths are considered the next most appropriate solution. A shared-use path provides a designated space for pedestrians, cyclists, and wheelchair users that is separated from the main carriageway. While this approach ensures a safer and more accessible environment than on-road cycling or walking, it does mean that users are in closer proximity to motor traffic.

Safety can be enhanced through supporting measures such as giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists at side roads within the hospital sites and installing controlled crossing points that require traffic to give way.

For the Western Isles Hospital site in particular, it’s critical that any design takes into consideration emergency access including patients arriving by Ambulance, helicopter, or private vehicle.

Examples of active travel infrastructure that has been considered as part of this study is shown below.

Phase 1 "Optioneering" Consultation

Between November and December 2024, Ethos undertook a phase 1 consultation on the NHS Western Isles Active Travel study. This involved in-person drop-in sessions across all three hospital sites, allowing interested stakeholders the opportunity to better understand the project and provide their feedback on the development of active travel improvements within the hospitals.

The drop-in sessions were well attended, with over 100 stakeholders attending the three events. Effective, and positive feedback was received, with additional options suggested, as well as good justification given on why certain options would be more or less effective than others.

In addition to the drop-in sessions held, Ethos created a survey that sought respondents views on a variety of active travel questions such as their perceived safety of walking and cycling across the isle, what would be required to make them feel safer when walking and cycling, and how often they travel to each of the hospital sites across the Western Isles.

Nearly 200 completed surveys were received from a variety of stakeholders including staff, patients, and visitors. This feedback has been critical to develop the prioritised proposals that form the basis of this phase 2 consultation.

Options Appraisal

For each hospital site, a robust and consistent option appraisal was undertaken to assess the suitability of all active travel opportunities.

The tables below demonstrate the options considered and the assessment scores.

Cycling by Design is Transport Scotland’s key guidance document for the planning, design, and implementation of active travel infrastructure. It provides a framework to ensure safe, accessible, and high-quality cycling facilities that support active travel objectives, promote sustainable transport, and enhance road safety for cyclists.

The aims and objectives developed for this project ensure the prioritised active travel opportunities are relevant for the three hospital sites on the Western Isles.

The aims and objectives for this project are shown below.

The cost / effectiveness assessment considers the cost, deliverability, and effectiveness of each opportunity to ensure lower cost proposals that are as effective as higher cost proposals are prioritised. It also allows unrealistic opportunities to be ruled out. 

Concept Design

Concept designs have been produced for the prioritised options for each hospital. For the NHS Western Isles Hospital the prioritised options include:

1. Widening the footway from the A857 along the access road to create a shared use path that can be used by pedestrians and cyclists;
2. Installing continuous footways to give priority to users of the path, to provide a more seamless and accessible journey;
3. A new path for staff to use to access the hospital without using the main entrance, which is a well used path currently albeit without a path being available, restricting access;
4. Promoting use of the existing alternative access to the western extents of the hospital for pedestrians and cyclists as a traffic free path. The gate will be replaced with a bollard to make access more straight forward and inclusive;
5. A controlled crossing near the junction of the A857 to provide a safe crossing facility for pedestrians and cyclists to access the hospital safely, having priority over traffic (apart from emergency vehicles).

Examples of how these prioritised proposals could look are shown below.

For Uist & Barra Hospital the prioritised options include:

1. Widening the footway from the B892 along the access road to create a shared use path that can be used by pedestrians and cyclists;
2. Constructing a traffic free path along the eastern extents of the hospital to provide a safe and accessible route to the rear of the hospital, with additional secure bicycle parking included as an alternative to the existing provision;
3. A new pedestrian footway link along the western extents of the hospital for pedestrians that are entering the site from the residential estates to the west of the hospital.

Examples of how these prioritised proposals could look are shown below.

For St Brendan's Hospital the prioritised options include:

1. A new footway for pedestrians along the hospital access road to provide a safe facility that doesn't require walking along the narrow carriageway;
2. Secure bicycle parking within the hospital for staff to use.

Examples of how these prioritised proposals could look are shown below.

Phase 2 Consultation Survey

We are keen to understand your thoughts on the prioritised options for each of the three hospital sites on the Western Isles. A survey has been created to allow your feedback to be provided.

Your feedback will influence the likelihood of funding being secured to deliver some or all of the prioritised options. Therefore, completing the survey is vitally important.

To complete the survey, please click on the button below.

Take Survey

This survey will close on the 31st March 2025. Any responses received after the 31st March 2025 may not be included in the analysis of the responses.

If you need help with completing the survey please contact the transport consultants managing the project: info@ethosconsultancy.co.uk or call 0203 912 1852.

Please view the FAQ attachment below for further information on this active travel study on behalf of the NHS Western Isles.

Survey Privacy Notice

Any personal information shared with Ethos whilst completing this survey will be processed, protected and disposed of in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018.