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

I agree M0nica, for new hospitals that should happen. Most hospitals though are not new, and have parking that was perhaps adequate forty or fifty years ago when they were built, but is not now. so there are no easy solutions. Park and rides do work well if they are properly organised.

With reference to Casdon/Elusivebutterfly post.

If hospitals build on large rural sites and I uite see why this happens, they should provide sufficient car parking. Most people going to a hospital are old or ill or both.

Many cannot cope with long bus journeys including changes then waiting round for return bus that will take as long on the return journey. These are not people who ualify for free transport. They will be people lke my DH who potters uite happily round our local town , doing shopping, stopping for coffee, going to the doctor etc, but would find a journey like the one I have described simply too exhausting, but that is the journey he would have if he tried to get to two of our local hospitals by bus,

For many people coming from smaller towns and villages, further out, the public transport journey, if public transport there be, the journeywill be longer and more arduous.

Elusivebutterfly

One of the issues that has made this worse is that, when building new hospitals, they knock down the town centre hospital and rebuild out on the fringe of the town, which means much worse public transport.
My local hospital is a long journey for me by bus. There are other hospitals easier to get to but they are in a different borough so we do not get referrals there.

In fairness I don’t think that town centres have enough acreage to build new hospitals on, so the choice of sites which are big enough must be quite restricted? The provision of good public transport to get people to the new sites is vital.

One of the issues that has made this worse is that, when building new hospitals, they knock down the town centre hospital and rebuild out on the fringe of the town, which means much worse public transport.
My local hospital is a long journey for me by bus. There are other hospitals easier to get to but they are in a different borough so we do not get referrals there.

I attended Royal Papworth last week. They gave me a reduced parking fee by showing my wristband.

The staff were keen to tell me about the new station due to open. There will be an hourly service from Ely through Cambridge, and this will link to the Oxford/Cambridge line that is being built. It already has a shuttle to the park & ride and excellent cycle ways.

AmberGran

I think so much depends on where you live and the type of treatment you are receiving. I really can't complain any more about the parking when we go to the hospital twice a week. Like M0nica attending by public transport would take hours with changes in both directions.

The hospital has two huge paid car parks and some smaller ones for staff and they are always queued back. We are lucky to be able to use a smaller one that is free for cancer treatments. A few times we nearly missed a treatment because we couldn't park. Then they installed name plate recognition cameras in the car parks and you had to register your car when you go for treatment, and lo and behold suddenly we could park. We get parking permits to park, and people were using them to park in the oncology car park to go into town on the bus (10 minute journey). I suspect that there is also a problem with the paid car park, as it it still cheaper than town centre parking and without the grief of driving through the centre of a very busy town.

Do check; when I was doing the chemo runs with my mum, I parked in a special car park, but if that was full, I could take my ticket to oncology reception and they would validate it for free parking.

Because our hospital car park is expensive, we do not have the trouble of no space because people arrive on time and go as quickly as possible to avoid the extra payment

JaneJudge

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

DO go get a blue badge. Yes my local hospital has a whole car park for blue badge holders which is nearly always full, but you can park pretty much anywhere with it, and they do.

I think so much depends on where you live and the type of treatment you are receiving. I really can't complain any more about the parking when we go to the hospital twice a week. Like M0nica attending by public transport would take hours with changes in both directions.

The hospital has two huge paid car parks and some smaller ones for staff and they are always queued back. We are lucky to be able to use a smaller one that is free for cancer treatments. A few times we nearly missed a treatment because we couldn't park. Then they installed name plate recognition cameras in the car parks and you had to register your car when you go for treatment, and lo and behold suddenly we could park. We get parking permits to park, and people were using them to park in the oncology car park to go into town on the bus (10 minute journey). I suspect that there is also a problem with the paid car park, as it it still cheaper than town centre parking and without the grief of driving through the centre of a very busy town.

I think the thing to do is find out if any help is available by ringing the hospital or looking at their website.

Then contacting the CEO of the hospital and expressing concerns. Also there is usually a patients group, to talk to.
Also write to your MP and local newspaper or Facebook.
There's 2 aspects finding help for yourself and improving the situation generally.

twaddle

Luckygirl3

When they were building a brand new children’s hospital in Oxford in the plan was a large underground car park.

This is what bugged me when our new hospital was built - they had a clean slate and could have installed an underground car park as the first action, especially as the hospital is in a built-up area with no parking nearby. Staff have the same problem every day. It is not just patients.

What stopped them? Cost?

Presumably - it was one of these PFI initiatives.

Chestnut

This is how I deal with these problems. 😊

Just forget the hospital car park completely.
a/ can't find a space
b/ too far to walk

If you have to come a long way then:
a/ park somewhere nearby and take a taxi together
b/ drop the patient at the entrance and park in a quiet area nearby until the patient phones.

Remember that hospitals often provide a Meet and Greet service and the patient can be wheeled from the entrance to the department.

If you don't live too far from the hospital then check whether there is a Volunteer Car Scheme where you can book a driver. I use that all the time now. The driver calls at your house 30 mins before the appointment, takes you there, even helps you walk in the door, then comes back and collects you when you phone them. Sometimes they go on other journeys, sometimes they wait for you. It's about half the price of a taxi because you only pay for the petrol.

Good advice.

Quite honestly, it's been like that for some time. I wouldn't even expect hospital transport, unless I was critically ill. If I couldn't get a lift or drive myself, I would use a taxi.

I live on my own and transport to and from hospital has been an issue for some time. It's one of those things I have to prepare for, as I get older and less mobile.

They are cutting ambulances like they are cutting Physiotherapists. I had knee replacement on 3 December and first physio was 21st Jan, about 3 miles away - no transport, so I had to struggle the 1/3- 1/2 miles away on 2 crutches, get on and off the bus only to find it was a ‘mass’ physio session. One I couldn’t face as I didn’t feel safe with so many in the room with me. quoted next physio session was 8 March!! no
transport etc., Welcome to the NHS 2026

This is how I deal with these problems. 😊

Just forget the hospital car park completely.
a/ can't find a space
b/ too far to walk

If you have to come a long way then:
a/ park somewhere nearby and take a taxi together
b/ drop the patient at the entrance and park in a quiet area nearby until the patient phones.

Remember that hospitals often provide a Meet and Greet service and the patient can be wheeled from the entrance to the department.

If you don't live too far from the hospital then check whether there is a Volunteer Car Scheme where you can book a driver. I use that all the time now. The driver calls at your house 30 mins before the appointment, takes you there, even helps you walk in the door, then comes back and collects you when you phone them. Sometimes they go on other journeys, sometimes they wait for you. It's about half the price of a taxi because you only pay for the petrol.

Luckygirl3

*When they were building a brand new children’s hospital in Oxford in the plan was a large underground car park.*

This is what bugged me when our new hospital was built - they had a clean slate and could have installed an underground car park as the first action, especially as the hospital is in a built-up area with no parking nearby. Staff have the same problem every day. It is not just patients.

What stopped them? Cost?

NotSpaghetti

Is it just that the hospital buildings are regularly sited where the original hospital was built 200 years ago?
The requirements of the hospital has sort-of taken over the site?

Our local hospital has Victorian buildings on what once would have been parkland. Now it has big buildings and multi-storey car parks filling up the plot and just a small area of trees.

Yes, I think that's a lot of the problem. Hospitals don't deliberately make accessing them difficult, but there's a limit to what they can do if there's little on-site available land and/or the hospital itself is located in a congested urban area. Not only that, but hospitals aren't responsible for bus routes and timetables or building new roads.

When they were building a brand new children’s hospital in Oxford in the plan was a large underground car park.

This is what bugged me when our new hospital was built - they had a clean slate and could have installed an underground car park as the first action, especially as the hospital is in a built-up area with no parking nearby. Staff have the same problem every day. It is not just patients.

When they were building a brand new children’s hospital in Oxford in the plan was a large underground car park.

The planners didn’t want more traffic on the site and said the park and ride service was adequate - no car parking was provided.

Obviously they gave no thought to how difficult it is on and off buses with sick children and wheelchairs.

Is it just that the hospital buildings are regularly sited where the original hospital was built 200 years ago?
The requirements of the hospital has sort-of taken over the site?

Our local hospital has Victorian buildings on what once would have been parkland. Now it has big buildings and multi-storey car parks filling up the plot and just a small area of trees.

I am trying to get my OH to move nearer to family. It is a conundrum. Our local Health Trust has been great for our needs so far. The Trust where family live is not so good. We have to drive to hospital as we are nearly a mile from a bus stop. Parking at the hospital is good. There is a drop off point and a 20 min waiting area by the main entrance. Some of the services are out sourced to health centres. OH had an ultrasound scan at a surgery , early evening when doctors surgery times had finished. The biggest problem here is the hospital pharmacy. When O H was discharged from hospital at 10.30 am , he actually arrived home at 12.pm midnight the following day due to waiting for medication.

Our nearest main hospital - NGH - is dreadful for parking.
I know of several people who have been stuck in the hospital carparks, searching for a space, for well over an hour and a half, and then getting a parking ticket despite there being no free spaces to actually 'park' in. OK, these were easily overturned on appeal, but it shows how bad it is
I am not exaggerating when I say that it iterally comes to blows sometimes when a space actually becomes free.
One of my sons missed an appointment there. He arrived 30 mins before the alloted appointment time, but was literally stuck in his car on the hospital grounds until after that time. The whole of the hospital was gridlocked, so it was impossible to leave and look for parking elsewhere.

On a recent visit there with my very elderly mother, we only made her appointment because two of us accompanied her - one to drive and drop us off (with her wheelchair) absolutely anywhere on the hospital grounds, and another to push her from there to the relevant department. By a stroke of luck, the dropping off was OK, but to get her back in the car at the end meant blocking traffic in the carpark until she and the wheelchair were safely on board!

I don't know what the answer is, but the current farce reduces already anxious people to tears.

I see what you mean Monica you have to do what you think is best as regards dentists doctors etc hospitals when you move and they don’t always all fit in
If I needed a specialist hospital it would be in out nearest city a long old trip My friends recently had to have an op in Addenbrooks, now that was a trek
It a big old problem when you get older

I have to attend regularly [ at minimum every week weeks]. I have shortness of breath which severely restricts walking from a multistorey hospital carpark.
I recently applied for, and now receive attendance allowance of just over £100 per week.
I will be using this for taxis for appointments . It is non means tested and worth applying if you fit the age and illness criteria.

cc

My daughter usually has weekly hospital appointments first thing on a Monday, too early to use her bus pass. She's signed up for hospital transport but it never seems to be available, so I end up paying £30 for her train fare.

Can the appointments not be rescheduled to a time more convenient to your daughter? I find most departments very helpful with appointments. I never take one they offer me before 10.30am.
We used to have a Park & Ride hospital bus, designated for hospital appo9ntments and staff. people without a bus pass would pay £ 1.30 return and of course the parking was free. The stopped running it as funding stopped. Now we still have a park & ride, but they only run every 30 minutes, so you could have a long wait if you are a few minutes late for your bus due to traffic.
If you have a blue badge you get free parking but it has to be registered at the reception every 6 months or on-line and needs renewing every year. Very convenient.
My husband used to have weekly cancer treatment and they ran the Elf charity busses picking up patients for free but were of course always glad of a donation. They also had their own cafe, where food is free but a donation expected if you can. We are lucky.

I'm a voluntary driver for a local charity taking people for appointments at hospitals etc. So far I haven't done many lifts as I'm not as widely available as some of the drivers but I've done some to the local hospital for a lady with a blue badge. I had to drop her at the main entrance - fortunately she was able to get in unaided - then queue for ages for a space to park. Thankfully I always managed to park and join her in the waiting room but it was very stressful. The last lift I gave was to a different hospital and I was pleasantly surprised to find the car park had plenty spaces and no charges at all! It seems these things vary a lot. When I've visited hospital for myself I've usually parked off site and walked in to avoid the exorbitant charges and crazy queues but that's only ok if you are fairly fit and well. At some hospitals all the surrounding roads have parking restrictions so it can be impossible. I really sympathise and hope I'm never in need of help in that way in future!