Data Insights - Commuting patterns among nurses and midwives in England & Wales.

Abstract

Our findings from this research highlighted that car travel was the most common mode of commuting for both nurses and other professionals, forming the main reference level in this analysis. Over 70 per cent of both groups travelled to work by car or van. In terms of distance, the largest single commuting bands for both groups were 5–10 km and 10–20 km, which together accounted for around 40 per cent of journeys. Against this backdrop, nurses and midwives were more likely to live close to their workplace and less likely to commute very long distances than other comparable professionals. Seventeen per cent of nurses lived within two kilometres of work, compared with 14 per cent of other professionals. At the opposite end, 1.5 per cent of nurses travelled sixty kilometres or more, compared with 2.7 per cent of others. Within the nursing workforce, men and those who commuted by rail were more likely to have longer journeys, while older nurses tended to live closer to work.