Literature has been examined from the fields of transport, town planning and medical care, to determine the current pattern of hospital accessibility and the expected trends in hospital access and location. Staff and visitors comprise more than two-thirds of all those who travel to hospitals. Car and bus are the modes most often used for the hospital journey. The relative numbers of different users and the modal split vary according to the size and type of hospital and its catchment area. Inhabitants of rural areas experience travel difficulties because of long distances to hospital and poor public transport. large hospitals which serve large catchment populations are likely to aggravate such difficulties. Other access problems are long journey times and high costs, where users do not have a car available; this deters some people (particularly visitors) from travelling. The future change in the hospital stock is likely to be limited; the potential for improvements in hospital access therefore lies in transport provision rather than in locational changes. Points suggested in the literature for further attention include the use of wider criteria for deciding hospital transport provision, improved coordination of existing public and hospital transport, and additional subsidy for certain travellers, when resources permit. (Author/publisher)
Abstract