Get on yer bike - that is the message being sent to health workers in Oxfordshire.

For NHS staff in the city are gearing up for a healthier lifestyle with the latest additions to their team - a pair of company bikes.

The bikes have been supplied by Oxfordshire Health Authority to be used by staff who need to travel around Oxford as part of their work.

The authority is hoping the move will be followed by other companies across the county - helping to cut congestion and pollution and improve health and fitness.

The two five-gear cycles were bought with prize money awarded by the Health Service Journal to Dr Nick Hicks, the authority's public health consultant, for work on coronary heart disease. Accessories, such as helmets, were paid for from Oxfordshire NHS staff lottery funds and supplied at a discount by Dentons in Summertown, Oxford.

Dr Hicks said: "We are responding to requests from staff to provide 'company' bikes. We are starting out with two but if they prove insufficient we will get more."

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