Barnsley Hospital Gridlock

Parking at Barnsley General Hospital is broken.
We want to make it better and we would like to get support from the public.
We put togethor a petition with over 300 names and submitted it to Barnsley Council. 

We think a park and ride scheme similar to Doncaster Infirmary could be the cheapest and quickest solution to the current problem  Doncaster Infirmary has a 50p park and ride scheme from the big car park at the Racecourse.

This article from the Barnsley Chronicle by Josh Timlin in April is the latest information we have and Barnsley Council is dragging its feet again.

A PETITION which has garnered more than 300 signatures has been lodged in a bid to push through long-awaited plans for a 'vital' park-and-ride facility to alleviate traffic and parking woes around Barnsley Hospital.

Ruling cabinet members accepted a recommendation from a council scrutiny group to carry out a feas-ibility study for the project - which has been spearheaded by Coun Peter Fielding, who is stepping down from representing the Dodworth ward next month - due to poor air quality in Gawber and Pogmoor. However, an alleged lack of action since has prompted Coun Fielding to submit a 300-name petition to the council urging them to fulfil their promise to carry out the feasibility study and implement its findings.

He said: "I was shocked to find out that the council hasn't even commissioned the feasibility study promised last summer. "I have been offered a list of unacceptable excuses for the delay but this is simply not good enough. 

"It feels as though the council is yet again kicking this can down the road and has no intention of ever setting up a park-and-ride for the hospital."

NHS Digital data shows there were 21,520 outpatient appointments which people did not show up for in Barnsley over a 12-month period. With the average outpatient appointment costing £160 - as estimated by several NHS trusts - the no-shows may have cost Barnsley Hospital more than £3m.

Although many diagnostic appointments have been moved to ated within the Glass Works in the town centre - an investment made to alleviate pressure on the hospital congestion issues and illegal parking remain.

Cllr Fielding believes a key reason for the no-shows is traffic and parking and has urged the council to listen to the petitioners' thoughts and assess potential sites in Dodworth.

"The problems continue unabated - traffic congestion and street parking around the hospital, late and missed appointments and excessive costs for patients," he added.

"Ive been told of outpatients who had queued for so long to park at the hospital that they turned round and parked in town and then got a taxi back to the hospital, costing them over £10.
"Ive also heard from medical staff about the number of patients who miss or are late for appointments. "Some departments were actively collecting names for the petition because they are so fed up with the parking problems.

"The petition was signed by patients from as far away as Nottingham, Sheffield, Huddersfield and Wakefield - this chaos isn't a good look for Barnsley. "Cabinet members make vague promises that at some point in the future more services may be moved from the hospital to the town centre which would incidentally reduce the pressure on parking.

"That is all well and good but something needs to be done now to avoid the costs and delays caused by missed appointments - there is enough pressure on the NHS without Barnsley Council adding to it by failing to deal with these parking problems."

Congestion and parking around Barnsley Hospital has been a nightmare for a while.Its difficult for staff, Ambulances, local residents, visitors and outpatients. It causes missed or late outpatient appointments and extra air pollution right next to a hospital. There is insufficient capacity to cope with staff, patient and visitor parking demand sometimes causing hostility between hospital users and residents. We want to make it better and we would like to get support from the public.

Many people have signed our petition and here are some of the comments we have recieved from the public.

When I was pregnant and went to Barnsley hospital for the carbon monoxide test I scored a 2. (It has always been 0 when I've attended my local GP). The Midwife said it was due to the local air pollution from all the cars. I was so surprised it made so much difference

Make an extra lane where bus bay is so queueing traffic doesn’t block Road

Keep battling, please. You are a voice of reason in this madness!

At peak visiting times there is gridlock at the crossroad because cars cannot access the main car park. The bus lane should be used as a left turn into the hospital car park. 
** A few people have suggested moving the bus stop outside the hospital further down the road so that the bus bay could be extended and made into a filter lane for the hospital entrance to ease traffic flow on Gawber rd. Sounds like a relatively easy improvement

bus stop and wall to hospital car park 3 needs converting into a turn left lane. The ambulance car park needs to be moved to where the A&E entrance is, currently pedestrians, traffic and ambulance traffic are all intermingling with the current situation and it is dangerous :(

DIFFICULT TO ENTER CAR PARK WITH HOSPITAL ON RIGHT BECAUSE OF TRAFFIC WISHING TO ENTER WITH CAR PARK ON THEIR LEFT.

Congestion on the main road is crazy. I feel sorry for all the residents in the area. Finding somewhere to park, within a 15 minute walk, is a nightmare

More segregated cycle lanes. Fewer cars = less traffic. Win win.

Need to discourage driving in favour of active travelPush active travel. It's not that far from the city centre. Need to ensure adequate safe bike storage storage and changing rooms/showers for staff.

More parking for electric vehicles

needs to be more parent and child spaces at the hospital. It’s difficult with a child (or newborn) to have to walk long distances in the cold due to no parking available.

Free parking and specialist staff parking areas. The staff struggle to get parked up, where sometimes they're parking in secluded areas on a night shift.

Permit parking for streets around the hospital (Glendale Close ) may relieve some tensions local residents feel ..out of town car park away from residential areas

Utilise untidy derelict land in the Heelis st /Wood St area

Have more hospital services transferred to different locations such as the new diagnostic centre in the Glass works.

Was better when the big car park off summer lane was for patients rather than staff.

 l visit the current staff carpark is usually half empty with the visiting carparks 1 & 2 always full. Would be better to change carpark 2 to a staff carpark so there is more room for visitors

If they had built a park and ride on the Dodworth motorway roundabout near capital one for town and the hospital it would have cut out the need for the gyratory.

Sufficient car parking to be made available on site. Paid for by the money from all the new housing which is causing the increased demand