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

It is a nightmare. Our hospital was built when there were far less cars and public transport was much more reliable. Even though it is probably about 5 miles away it would be a steep walk, crossing a main road, a bus journey into town and then another bus to the hospital which goes all around the wrekin first. Then as others have said you have the long walk to whatever department you have the misfortune to have to visit. Even the staff have difficulty parking. Those with friends or family who drive are lucky enough to be dropped off but then the people who drop them off can never park so end up going home and having to come back. A lot of people Even if they own a car are now paying for a taxi. The taxi firms must be rubbing their hands together with glee. The parking fees are extortionate. The first 20 minutes used to be free just time enough to drop something off but not any longer . My elderly friend asked me to rake her to the hospital for a genocolgy examination. We got their 40,minutes before the appointment but no parking. Won't bore you with the times I circled the car park and she has a disabled pass. In the end I had to drop her off and it took me another 20 minutes to park but in a normal spot. Fortunately, they were running extremely late so was able to accompany her but she got very upset about having to go into the hospital and negotiate it al9ne.

twaddle

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.

Empathy is clearly not your strong point!

They built a new hospital in my local city 20 miles away about 20 years ago. Instead of starting by digging an underground car park then building the hospital on top they just plonked it down, missing a golden opportunity. Needless to say the parking is hopeless, and getting worse as the hospital expands as new departments and equipment are added.

As I cannot walk far, both because of musculo-skeletal problems and breathlessness from heart problems, I have to plan to get there at least 30-40 minutes early and sit in a queue waiting for a space to appear. There is no other way. It is crazy.

Almost impossible to park near the hospital , so if I’m going for an appointment or, I catch the bus, free and almost door to door.
If I’m taking Dh, it’s a taxi and usually Dd comes with us, so she can run in and try to find a wheelchair, as Dh can’t walk more than a few steps.
It’s quite an undertaking and can make a stressful appointment even more difficult and anxious.

The other bonkers thing is that there are disabled spaces close to the entrance but you are asked not to display your blue badge but to register it with reception as you are leaving and tell them your reg number so they can log it into the system and the barrier will lift automatically.

But of course this means that everyone knows that you do not need to display a blue badge so all the world and his brother parks in the disabled bays ..... and since they are nearest to the hospital, those with disabilities often finish up having to park at the furthest distance - quite quite bonkers!

I’m sorry orlin has been so unwell lauran. Wishing him well and a hug for you.

It’s stressing enough going to hospital without all of the stress if parking. I remember driving around trying to park knowing what a diagnosis was coming.( skin cancer) I had to park and literally run into the hospital and was too late to go in and support my husband. I eventually was taken in quite out of breath and hubby behind the curtains whilst the nurse said” do you want to tell your wife. Not ideal.

In our Health Trust there ar thee hospitals spread across the county, all with very limited parking and also very expensive.

Each one specialises so if I break a bone I have a 45 minute car ride or thee different buses. I have a 22 mile trip each month to the eye hospital. It is a rural area and buses are infrequent and none go directly to any hospital. Fortunately we have a voluntary service where you can be taken and returned by a friendly volunteer. You have to pay but it is a lot less than a taxi. A lot of areas have such schemes. A couple of months ago we had no car and no driver so I paid a taxi £35 one way. Fortunately I got a lift home.
The annoying thing is a different county’s Health Trust hospital is our nearest one but it is not easy to get a referral there I do not know why. It is easy to get to, loads of parking and accessible by bus and train.
I

We make 2 bus rides. Parking has become impossible .

I have found that the main issue is having a very sick relative in hospital and visiting every day. It is so very difficult to spend an exhausting couple of bus rides day after day.

"The annoying thing is a different county’s Health Trust hospital is our nearest one but it is not easy to get a referral there I do not know why. It is easy to get to, loads of parking and accessible by bus and train."

Increasingly, this is becoming an issue for me. The nearest and most convenient hospital is in another health area, so is no longer the default hospital for lots of specialisms. A number of people, including me, have complained to our MP, but she's not interested.

I'm not sure what people want hospitals to do. They can't move their car parks nearer the hospital entrances. They can provide drop off points, but it just wouldn't be feasible to have parking near entrances for everybody who needs it. There could be better public transport, but that would come at a cost and I'm not sure who would be responsible. Local authorities are already stretched.

There could be more local outpatient clinics, but that depends on spaces being available. My local "cottage" hospital has, thankfully, been saved to provide that kind of provision and when new health centres are built, they have extra space for outreach work, but that's a long term project.

We have two hospitals here. One is easily accessed from where I live by bus - door to door. Unfortunately most of the surgical and diagnostic services have now been steadily moved to the one on the Northern edge of the city which has grown so much it is now the size of a very large village. If I wanted to get there on public transport it would involve two buses and take a hour and forty minutes - and that’s just to get you to the main entrance of the huge site. Parking? Forget it. (On the day DH died, my daughter drove around frantically trying to find somewhere to park, then gave up, parked off site and ran half a mile to be at his bedside - just in time). The work they do there is amazing and cutting edge. The anxiety that accessing those services causes patients and their relatives is not acceptable.

My local hospital whilst only 8 miles away necessitates two buses for me ( no car) and the subsequent waiting around for them especially if they miss one out, they also take the long route to accommodate all the villages, so I can easily be more than an hour to go the eight miles so I usually get to the hospital a couple of hours early and watch the world go by in and out reception.
It’s a big problem and shutting down all the cottage hospitals or out of hours places has made it much more of a nightmare
I don’t mean to be rude but didn’t you move recently Monica did you not foresee this being a problem, 20 miles is a long way to have to get to a hospital in old age

20 miles is a long way to have to get to hospital in old age

Yes, it is, but 20 miles is the distance to get to either of our nearest hospitals.

For more complicated treatments, it’s about 50 miles away, to get to bigger specialist city ones.

My Mum and BiL have both needed a number of appointments over the last few years, so we have developed a three man system. I drive, and we drop Mum or BiL at the front hospital entrance, with another relative with them. I then find a parking space and join them, or if that is impossible, I go and park on a side street, and they ring when they have finished so I pick them up from the front entrance again. It’s difficult to organise initially, but it saves a huge amount of hassle and worry for everybody on the day.

BlueBelle

My local hospital whilst only 8 miles away necessitates two buses for me ( no car) and the subsequent waiting around for them especially if they miss one out, they also take the long route to accommodate all the villages, so I can easily be more than an hour to go the eight miles so I usually get to the hospital a couple of hours early and watch the world go by in and out reception.
It’s a big problem and shutting down all the cottage hospitals or out of hours places has made it much more of a nightmare
I don’t mean to be rude but didn’t you move recently Monica did you not foresee this being a problem, 20 miles is a long way to have to get to a hospital in old age

Medical services come at many levels and we have moved to a town where doctors, dentists, pharmacy, Walk in centre, podiatrists are all within a couple of hundred yards. These are the services we use on a day to day basis. previously they were 5 miles away.

We have one hospital 12 miles and a 20 minute drive away, with excellent parking, we then have a specialist heart hospital 20miles plus away with easy parking and then the one we are going to today where parking and access is more of a problem.

The difficulty is, and this we could not know, is that in this health authorityy you never know at which location, even a routine appointment will be. Mostly we go to the local easy access hospital but now and again we get called in to clinics further away.

This is our first visit to this hospital and the whole wording of the access information was indifferent ,essentially 'Parking is difficult come by bus' without any consideration that many people coming to the hospital will be old and/or ill, The hospital provides services over a large relatively sparsely populated area and visiting hospital by bus is either impossible because of distance, or state of health.

Overall we have moved somewhere, and chose it because access to the medical services we use most are all so close. It is this one hospital DH has been asked to attend, where parking is not good, and they do not seem to care.

Is it Addenbrooke's by any chance? If it is, your best bet is to drive to one of the park and ride car parks and take a bus direct to the hospital outpatients from there.

These days, most people are directed to a variety of different hospitals and even private providers, resulting from the NHS internal market (going back to 2011). Each board buys in services for different specialisms from different providers.

I get a taxi. I can't afford to, but am not well enough to drive into the city centre through nightmare traffic to get to any of the hospitals I've had to attend recently, and there is limited parking. I am just not up to the stress of it.

No direct buses so would have to change bus en route.

Our local hospital lost some of its services 20 odd years ago,including maternity and neo natal,though there is a small midwife led service for women with straightforward pregnancies.
Heart stroke and cancer patients have togoto Glasgow or Paisley .There is a bus that leaves twice an hour for Paisley that takes patients and visitors across the Erskine bridge and can be used to return home….the bus will stop at different points on the route.
It’s free to all who need itand was a godsend when my sister spent months in hospital after 2 heart attacks and a series of strokes .It’s free to use and it stps right outside the hospital
reception .Good for people who find the steep hill a problem

I am lucky enough to live within walking distance of a shuttle service that connects the hospital in our town to the main county hospital, a 30-minute bus ride away. However, for some inexplicable reason it only operates Mon-Fri. A lot of health care workers use the service, and a lot of them don't work Mon-Fri. When my husband was in hospital recently I had to resort to a less convenient service or lifts from a relative for weekend visits.

Living in a city with bus access to the door of one hospital, a, simple bus change in town that has the next bus again to the door of the hospital and another that's a short walk from the bus stop.. All with lots of parking, I really didn't think about any of this.
Although I often get taxis to appointments because I don't drive but even then every hospital has drop off points at every entrance.
I suppose I'm lucky to live in a city with a huge teaching hospital trust which means we have 4 main hospitals and then 3 smaller ones. I've honestly never thought about how awkward it must be not living this close to hospitals.

For my recent set of appts, I used ‘JustPark’ - an app that allows you to book a space on a private driveway. The map shows you how far away it is. Prices were very reasonable

My county has one "major" hospital with two others where consultations,chemo can be carried out. About 4 years ago the main hospital built a orthopaedic unit to become the National Treatment Centre. This was inspite of, like many others have expressed there already being very poor parking for the previous hospital. For me I have to drive to a bus station, park and pay, then use a bus. Tried that in February, a horrible wet and windy day andcwhat happened. Due to another bus being in the stance allocated for my bus, the driver drove into another bay, no information or anyone informing awaiting passengers. The bus drove off and I had to walk back to the car park, drive to the hospital, struggled to find a parking space but did eventually arriving 20 mins late but fortunately there was a queue to see the consultant. The bus I needed ran every 1 hour 10 mins. Yet politicians are consrantly telling us to use public transport, wouldn't be so bad if there was any transport to use.

Our health authority ( Leeds) seems to have outsourced a lot of out patient appointments to the private sector and that has worked well on the couple of occasions I have used it. However, when I went for a mammogram it was at St James’s a very big teaching hospital. Fortunately DH was able to drop me off at the relevant wing, but he then ended up driving round and round fruitlessly looking for somewhere to park.Fortunately I was straight in and out so he was able to just come and pick me up. I don’t know what I’ve have done if I was by myself. In future if I have to go by myself I’ll get a taxi, but fortunately I don’t live too far away and I can afford it. Public transport would be a 2 hour round trip and 15 mins walk each way, or 2 buses. It’s 20 mins in a car.

A few years ago we considered retiring in the Yorkshire Dales. For various reasons we didn’t and I’m very glad about it now. The nearest major hospital would be Middlesborough or Newcastle, public transport is very poor, and it has recently been on the news that Reeth may lose its GP when the present incumbent retires.

Our local hospital has extended a lot and taken some of the car parking

They expect people to cycle or get a bus which isn’t helpful to the elderly or disabled. So much so it can take up to an hour to get a parking space and many patients are then late for their appointments which is causing so many problems