Why do hospitals, most of whom have large catchment areas, make accessing them so difficult?

I have had exactly the same problem, now that I have moved to Norfolk. I started using hospital transport. It is tedious, as a whole day can be taken up, as o ne has to be ready two hours in advance of the appointment and one has to wait for the transport to turn up for collection. But it is free (they should charge a token sum) and the drivers can fetch a wheelchair and take you to the necessary department. Volunteer drivers or taxis cannot do this.

However, the people who run these group transport systems (Not in-house) are getting more and more sticky about taking patients to OPAs. I have had an almighty battle with them and referred the matter to my local MP.

I might be worth a shot.

Agree entirely MOnica re the worrying extra burden placed on already ill patients. Maybe a scheme allowing frail patients a discount for hospital journeys with approved local taxis. Many hospitals do offer transport in approved cases but often provided grudgingly and with a lot of hanging about.

This needs to be recognised for the problem it is.

DH had a series of appointments at a hospital in a city some 20 miles away. To avoid the hassle of finding our way to somewhere strange we opted for hospital transport - which arrived to collect us 30mins after his appointment time!

For subsequent appointments we drove ourselves. A couple of times parking was difficult but on most occasions we found a space immediately. As regular attendees we got a free parking pass.

At that hospital, and one in another city that he has to attend, we've found that the car parks serving outpatients are best. Although we've often had to wait a short while, there is a frequent turn-over of patients and thus parking spaces.

my husband also has a severe heart condition. I have to take time off work and drive to drop him off at the door and on a few occasions haven't been able to par either, so he's had to go in alone and then i pick him up when he gets out. I don't know what would happen if I couldn't do this or her needs a wheelchair at any point

I'm sorry I'm no help. I feel a bit sad today about everything and I don't know what we would do if I couldn't do this fortnightly. Work are being ok atm but you know what companies are like

I don't know if we would qualify for a blue badge but all the disabled spaces are taken up too

I feel your pain Monica

The NHS is not responsible for the car parks at hospitals, neither are they responsible for public transport that may or may not take people to their appointments.

Some patient transport is available but this is also a separate and poorly funded service.

If your 'local' hospital is 20 miles away then this may be due to more local services having been cut back or centralised, usually by successive Tory governments.

There are moves to return some health provision back to more community based services. In my local town all out-patient and diagnostic services have been moved to the town centre where people can access them by car, bus or train very easily. I think this is the way forward for many other communities too. It is a Labour initiative working closely with the NHS and frees up the hospital to provide more urgent and specialist health services.
I agree it is a huge issue for many with mobility and access problems, maybe you should contact your local NHS trust to find out what their plans are to improve accessibility for all NHS users.

I completely agree M0nica. The parking at my local hospital is abysmal and getting there by bus would involve a change of buses, difficult when you are both sight and hearing impaired and not that mobile. Fortunately for me it’s near enough for me to take a taxi but they aren’t allowed to drop off any where near the entrance so I have quite a walk even before I start trying to navigate the hospital itself. I know it’s difficult when there’s only so much land and an ever increasing population to serve but surely the powers that be could give this more thought.

this post isn't moaning about the NHS it is asking how logistically it is near on impossible for people to attend their appointments alone, or even with a relative who can drive when they are very unwell and cannot walk or walk far and what do they do if they can't park?

Fortunately I have no need to attend hospital, but have been told that parking at our three county hospitals is dire.
In preparation, should I need to attend any of them, I have a plan of driving to a near point where parking is easy and calling a taxi to take me onward to the hospital.

Having experienced this I totally agree. Mr C’s heart valve repair process involved 90 minutes minimum of travelling each way by public transport with an uphill walk at the end. The hospital does have a tiny car park. As it all became too much we arrived at 7.30am when a space was guaranteed, once the cafe was open we went for breakfast, if a morning appointment we could go from there to the waiting area. If an afternoon appointment we’d find a seat in the area between the cafe and the waiting area and drink a lot of coffee. How we’d have coped as he became more unwell if I didn’t drive I have no idea, there is no local family now. Hospital transport is hard to get and if they agree it’s only for the patient unless they have dementia. We both fear the need to go there when very unwell.

Many years ago I worked in Nottingham, which operated a service from the town centre and the park and ride free out of town car parks, which took you to all the major hospitals by bus. I don’t know if it’s still there, but it was a brilliant service.

I agree with keepingquiet. There are initiatives to move outpatient appointments to more local centres. I've had a dermatology appointment in a health centre, where there was plenty of parking and is also on a bus route. I've also had a number of appointments over the years at our local cottage hospital. There are also initiatives to use remote services using cameras and video. The main hospital is easy to reach with a bus from a park and ride car park. If patients have problems inside the hospital itself, they can ask for a wheelchair and escort (I know because I did just that for somebody I was accompanying).

Parking at our local hospital is a complete joke. The disabled bays are located further away than they ought to be…..clearly an able bodied individual planned the layout! If you have a mid morning appointment you need to be there very early otherwise you’ll not get a parking space! Vehicles are often double parked or parked on pedestrian areas.
Disabled people have a long walk to the entrance during which they have to walk through a cloud of cigarette smoke because people simply cannot manage without smoking a fag! 😡

Initiatives are fine but they done solve what is currently happening. I said to my husband I think people who do not work might get there early to get parking and just ‘spend the day’

We both need to work though. I suppose he could get a taxi eventually. This is all very new 😞

There are some disabled bays at our local hospital halfway up a 11% gradient hill! Once in an access of optimism I did use them & tried to push M-i-L in wheelchair back to car - for me (relatively strong for a woman) it was impossible. I had to leave her on a side path and reverse back down the hill.

The parking is awful, & basically if you are taking a wheelchair user you have to drop them off at (busy, one -at-a-time) drop off point, drive to public multistorey 5 minutes' walk away, park as quickly as you can & run back to the hospital hoping they haven't been abducted meanwhile - to pick them up, reverse above.

JaneJudge

Initiatives are fine but they done solve what is currently happening. I said to my husband I think people who do not work might get there early to get parking and just ‘spend the day’

We both need to work though. I suppose he could get a taxi eventually. This is all very new 😞

There aren't any magic wands and change can't happen overnight.

Sounds like our hospital vandalism 😂

I wish there was a magic wand quite frankly as I think lots of people must be dying or losing their jobs at the moment if they are chronically ill and have no support. Which is what the thread is about too

And fwiw I understand the point you are making but it’s political. People need practical short term solutions in order to live, stay healthy and still contribute to the economy

Totally agree, I worked for a Hospital Trust all my career.
We had to park off site then we were bussed in, the cost of this came out of our pay every month.
I was at a staff management meeting once with other senior clinical managers. We asked why doesn't this service extend to patient? They arrived late to the appointment, stressed as they couldn't park, they clogged up the roads.
The higher powers gave us some cods wallop about costs of putting in pay machines, someone to monitor it, and the loss of revenue to the PFI company.
Please to say,in the Trust these days, the frequency of busses improved, and x2 massive multi storey car parks. But these still que's!

JaneJudge

I wish there was a magic wand quite frankly as I think lots of people must be dying or losing their jobs at the moment if they are chronically ill and have no support. Which is what the thread is about too

I wouldn't disagree with that, but I think it's a much bigger issue than hospital parking.

My wonderful Orlin has been in hospital since early March. The first six weeks very poorly in ICU and then on the vascular ward until now.
I visit every day and am very impressed with the amount of parking spaces at our superb hospital in West Cheshire. Parking for our whole family was free the whole time he was in intensive care and now I just purchase a weekly ticket for £15.
The drop off and pick up points seem numerous and well placed for the various departments although I haven’t had direct experience and won’t until he is discharged and needs follow up care.
Also just like to add that the skill of surgeons and nursing staff is amazing.
Feeling very lucky to still have my darling husband, it was touch and go for a while.
Sorry to go off topic but feeling very grateful.

I think what annoys me is the sanctimonious hypocrisy of hospitals that have a parking problem but instead of acknowledging it just do this 'encouraging you to use public transport' and pretend that is a solution, when they know, in rural areas, many of their patients are coming long distances and that, apart from any medical or frailty problems they have, the public transport system cannot get them to the hospital and home again in a timely manner or even at all.

Sorry to hear about your husband LauraNorderr, I hope he continues to improve, and glad that he is receiving good care.

Thank you Casdon