The lack of parking places and resulting parking pressure around hospitals are a concern for almost every hospital in the Netherlands. On the other hand, poor accessibility of a hospital is most inconvenient for patients, visitors, employees, ambulances and suppliers. It is only through the combined efforts of different parties, such as local authorities, hospitals and real estate developers, that problems such as these can be overcome. To stimulate thinking about issues of mobility around hospitals the AVV Transport Research Centre commissioned Goudappel Coffeng to develop this manual. Prevention is better than cure! The manual “accessible cure or cure-less accessibility” presents a range of best practices encountered at about twentyfive hospitals that participated in the survey. One of the findings was that hospitals have already taken measures to control mobility, although these measures are quite traditional such as: implementing bicycle plans, car-pooling and parking management. Many measures that are primarily introduced to improve services or reduce costs also affect (unintentionally) traffic to and from hospitals. This manual is also meant to increase the awareness of hospital management about these positive effects of and other mobility issues. Examples of measures that can be taken to control the road accessibility of hospitals are: 1. relocation of functions such as implementing blood sample stations in residential areas, outsourcing and concentration of logistic processes (for example cooking and warehousing); 2. trip prevention or reduction, for example by implementing electronic patient files, and offering travel management measures as part of the terms of employment; 3. offering or stimulating alternative modes of transport. Examples of best practice include: organising bus transport for employees, offering them cycles or motorcycles, or providing The manual is meant for everyone who is concerned with the issue, such as transport coordinators / facility managers at hospitals, members of the board of directors of hospitals, policymakers from local authorities, real estate developers, consulting firms or policy-makers in the health sector. (Author/publisher)
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