DISABLED patients are having to park further away from Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital while a new centre is built.

Five of the ten disabled spaces just outside the main entrance were first fenced off last September.

Oxford University Hospitals Trust (OUHT) said it was so a that a generator could be set up while the emergency assessment unit next to A&E could be refurbished.

This week the remaining five disabled bays have been cordoned off for work to start on building a new welcome Centre. It will include a new main reception desk, a patient information area, the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) and three shops.

The trust said the work is due to finish in the autumn and that all the disabled parking would be moved to car park 2, outside the Women’s Centre, about 30 metres away from the main entrance.

Adrian Taylor, 69, who had a stroke in 2001 and is a regular visitor to the hospital, said he’d struggled with walking from the car park.

Mr Taylor, who lives in Eynsham, said: “Being as there is no drop-off point at the hospital main entrance, it has meant I had a long walk from the main car park and I’m badly disabled.”

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Chairwoman of patient group Patient Voice Jacquie Pearce-Gervis welcomed the new centre but said: “I would like to be positive and say that the end result will be good but the current situation is very intrusive. How on earth are the disabled going to get in?

“Patients have to park in the main car park and weave their way uphill and along very uneven pathways to get to the main entrance.

“In the meantime the previous parking arrangement for the disabled has disappeared.”

Spokeswoman for OUHT Stephanie Clark said they were sorry for the inconvenience caused to patients and visitors.

She said the first spaces had to be fenced off for the generator in the event that their fixed electrical generator failed during the works.

She said: “During this time there were still five disabled parking spaces open outside the main entrance area. One space for the team of operations managers also remained open.”

Miss Clark added: “The refurbishment works to the unit were completed at the end of last week. The whole area outside the main Level 2 entrance to the JR has now been cordoned off to begin the building works to the new Welcome Centre.”

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