The Panel considered the report of the Senior
Manager, Communities, Change and Partnerships for the Panel to note
evidence from stakeholders in relation to public and sustainable
transport provision to Southampton General Hospital and provide
comments on emerging recommendation by 8 March. (Copy of the report circulated with the agenda and
appended to the signed minutes)
The following corrections were made to
paragraph 6 of the report so it should read:
- The hospital has up to a total of
7,500 staff;
- In the region of 600,000 patients are seen at the hospital each year
The Panel heard presentations and asked
questions of the following speakers:
Harry Dymond,
SLINK
The Panel noted that:
- that
transport to the Southampton General Hospital was often raised at
SLINK meetings, particularly for people living to the east of the
City and there was confusion over changes to bus services.
- in a recent survey carried out by
SLINK transport to health services was reported to be an
issue;
- SLINK had detailed their concerns in
the report circulated as part of the agenda papers;
- taxi’s an were expensive form
of transport and those with children find it difficult to get to
the hospital using public transport;
- the bus
network was fragmented, with different operators, bus routes keep
changing and were confusing for users.
- that cost
had not been raised as an issue in relation to public transport to
the hospital.
Anne Meader,
Carers Together (see paper appended to minutes)
The Panel noted that:
- the main issues raised were lack of
accessible public transport to the hospital, lack of direct bus
routes which required users to change buses a number of times to
get to the hospital, timing and scheduling difficult and there was
a lack of directions from the motorway to the hospital;
- a planning and customer care survey
should be carried out regarding public transport;
- a bus
service was provided for hospital staff from Thornhill to the hospital - could there be a public
bus service?;
- people
could travel long distances to the hospital. Better links were
required from the train station, ferry and wider region, possibly a
park and ride option for patients and carers;
- co-ordinated care should be centred on the
individual, taking into account their requirements.
The Panel discussed the Patient Transport
Services and whether people were aware of them. It appeared that information was not readily
available and often patients were not made aware of the
service. It was acknowledged that when
people were unwell it was more difficult to be proactive to find
out about options available for transport. GP’s often refer people for appointments at
the hospital, but it was not clear whether information was given
out regarding options for transport.
Tracy Eldridge, Member of the Public
Tracy Eldbridge,
Member of the Public was present and with the consent of the Chair
addressed the Panel regarding her observations at the hospital and
long waiting times for a patient waiting for the patient transport
service.
Michael Woodward, Joint Staff Side Chair /
Unite UHS on behalf of Unite and Unison
The Panel noted that:
- union staff felt that bus services
were unreliable and confusing;
- better
information was required regarding bus routes and location of bus
stops. Staff who use buses may take
multiple buses to travel to work (“bus jumping”), which
could be expensive and timing consuming;
- when the
bus routes and numbers changed no consultation took place and no
information had been available at bus stops and the information
about the old buses routes was still advertised.
David Smith – Consultant Anaesthetist
and Maria Johnston – Radiographer – Staff Reps UHS
David Smith and Maria Johnston reported they
were representatives of staff and they were members of transport
strategy and steering groups.
It was noted that:
- there were 10,125 staff contracts
and 3,500 parking permits issued to staff;
- the 2020 vision for the hospital was
to extend staff working hours until 8 pm in order to offer a longer
service for outpatients;
- the main issues raised by hospital
staff in relation to travel was the fact that buses services cease
at 6 pm and that it was not easy to move about the City - buses
travel into the City Centre and out again and therefore more than
one bus might need to be used; it is
also confusing to know which bus stop yu need to use;
- lighting
around the hospital was felt to be poor, particularly at bus stops
and was a safety issue. Only the
Unilink bus enters Southampton General
Hospital which at times of the day could cause problems with
movement of vehicles;
- the
number of staff travelling to work by bike had
increased. Safety of cyclists was an
issue, particularly as there were not many cycle path routes to the
hospital. It was not possible to report
the number of showers at the meeting.
Money had been ringfenced for the
development of facilities and that space to provide lockers for
those cycling to work was being addressed;
- the cost
to staff to use the park and ride facility was less than to park at
the hospital.
Anita Beer, Interim Deputy Director of
Commercial Development – University Hospital Southampton
It was noted that:
- the Trust
had been working to improve transport related issues around the
hospital such as hospital parking, encouraging cycling and
provision of shower facilities.
Consultation had been carried out on permits and a park and ride
facility was offered to staff. Research
had been carried out regarding staff travel patterns;
- knowledge about patients and
visitors travel patterns was limited;
- the Trust were keen to work with
partners regarding public transport;
- patient
questionnaires: Patients at the
hospital were routinely issued questionnaires regarding the
treatment received but no questions were asked about
transport. Questions about transport
had not been a priority because they were a healthcare provider,
and need to focus on quality of care, dignity and responding to
issues raised in the Frances report.
UHS would like to work with others to better understand patient and
visitor travel;
- the
number of showers provided for cyclists was being
increased. It was not possible to
provide the number of showers available for staff at the
meeting. Cycle theft was an issue, on
average one bike was stolen a week.
- the Trust
work with the bus companies. Bus
companies had talked to staff at the hospital to about changes that
were introduced last year. A willingness was expressed by the Trust to work
with the bus companies.
- it could be difficult to plan travel
times to and from the hospital if travel involved using more than
one bus, or more than one method of transport when waiting times
and potential delays needed to be factored in order to make sure a
patient arrives for an appointment on time;
- the Trust
was not responsible for the contract for the Patient Transport
service, but accepted there are issues in accessing PTS in a timely
manner. Publicity of the service was
discussed. GP’s were responsible
informing patients of the service.
James Smith, Unison Trade Union
James Smith was present and with the consent
of the Chair addressed the meeting. Upon hearing rumours that the First Bus service was
to potentially remove the bus service after 8 pm a questionnaire
had been drawn up regarding bus travel for staff at the
hospital. Attempts to contact First Bus had been
difficult. Concern was expressed
regarding the safety risk for people travelling at night around the
hospital.
Ian Taylor, Uni-link Manager and Paul Coyne, Operations Manager
– Bluestar and Uni-link
It was noted that:
- Bluestar
and Uni-Link were willing to work and
engage with the Council and others in relation to bus
provision;
- user groups and Steering groups had
been established in other parts of Hampshire and the bus groups
were invited to attend these meetings and were happy to attend
these meetigs;
- a bus
service would only be provided if there was the demand to make it
commercially viable. Discussions took
place around pubic transport and the requirement to be customer
focused. Capacity on U6 increasing
later this year;
- Southampton University had a very
good travel plan and engaged with people using mass
media. They have resources and a
transport and estates department. Students may be able to help with a
survey.
Dervla McKay,
General Manager – First South Coast
It was noted that:
- 13 direct services to the hospital.
The S1 bus service was currently funded
by the Council. The other services were
commercial. A range of tickets were
available for users;
- it was acknowledged that bus stop
locations were not always easy to find, they would consider how to
improve;
- customer
panels took place in other areas but not in
Southampton. The panels had
representation from local Councillors, public, local authority
transport department and issues such as complaints, fleet changes
and disability issues were discussed.
It was reported that if a Customer Panel was set up for Southampton
they would be happy to attend;
- First South Coast was not linked up
to ROMANSE system which supplies up to date bus
information. It was anticipated that
bus services would link up to ROMANSE in early summer;
- consultation prior to making changes on bus services
involves consulting the transport department of the relevant local
authority and consulting staff and union
representative. The public would not be
consulted;
- First South Coast were reviewing the bus services in the light of the
budget cut from the Council.
Simon Bell, Public Transport and Operations
Manager and Dale Bostock, Active Travel Officer – Southampton
City Council
- it was reported that cycling routes
were to be reviewed with the intention of promoting cycling,
particularly for the less confident cyclist;
- most cycle routes were on road but
looking to improve;
- the complaints system was being used
to address issues raised by members of the public;
- there was clearly a lack of
information as buses do exist for some of the routes raised tonight
– ie from the ferry and train
station;
- Travel Line was available to provide
information;
- it would
be useful to have patient and visitor survey data to improve
planning.
RESOLVED:
i)
that the Panel requested the further information from speakers at
the meeting, detailed below:
·
Anne Meader, Carers Together - details
on the main areas of concern;
·
James Smith, Unison Trade Union – details on the
questionnaire that had been produced for staff in relation to bus
provision;
·
Anita Beer – details of staff showers on site;
·
Dervla McKay, First South Coast –
details of the consultation carried out prior to the reduction in
bus services in April 2012;
ii)
that the Panel recommended that a Steering Group be established for
public transport in Southampton, including providers and users;
iii)
the Panel recommended that survey work be carried out to establish
how patients and visitors travel to and from the general hospital
and the results used to inform future service planning;
iii)
the Panel recommended that survey work be carried out to establish
how patients and visitors travel to and from the general hospital
and the results used to inform future service planning;
iv)
the Panel recommended early engagement between the hospital and its
staff and public transport providers regarding the proposed
extension of working hours for staff at the hospital; and
v)
that the Panel agreed to consider the Patient Transport Service in
more detail in at a future meeting in order to better understand
how the services are managed, publicised to patients and concerns
with the current service. Commissioners and Providers of the
service to be invited.