Patients have described how they have been 'stressed' trying to find parking spaces at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, as a row over the site's car park continues.
Calls for a multi-storey car park at the major Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust hospital recently resurfaced amid patients describing the difficulty they have getting there.
A petition launched by independent Oxford City Councillor David Henwood on the matter has reached nearly 800 signatures, with one describing the parking situation as 'inhumane' for the sick, grieving or disabled.
But other city councillors said there are no plans for a new car park at the John Radcliffe, and instead want people to use public transport like shuttle buses or park and rides, due to congestion on the roads caused by hospital staff, patients and visitors.
Cllr Henwood said: "The five main park and ride sites for Oxford have around 5,900 spaces in total — but those spaces aren't reserved for NHS staff.
"They are already used by hospital patients and visitors, commuters, university staff, shoppers and thousands of other people travelling into Oxford.
"And hospital staff aren't conventional nine-to-five commuters.
"Nurses, doctors, porters, cleaners, technicians and other NHS workers travel at all hours — including early mornings, evenings, nights and weekends.
"We need a hospital transport strategy based on capacity, evidence and proper planning — not wishful thinking."
He said the park and rides are already under 'increasing pressure' following the introduction of the congestion charge - soon to be replaced with traffic filters - and some, like Redbridge, were operating close to capacity in July.
He added that, because the hospital is expanding with new emergency care and clinical facilities, including 14 additional operating theatres, the "transport problem isn't going away, it's like to become more pressing'.
Leaving comments in support of the petition, hundreds of people voiced their frustration with the hospital parking.
Bernadette Evans said: "Having experienced taking a very poorly elderly relative to appointments at Oxford Hospitals I was shocked at how long it took to park - adding huge amounts of stress to an already unpleasant situation."
Shireen Chilcott added: "Parking is difficult at both the JR and the Churchill. When people are unwell or supporting someone to an appointment, they need reliable access."
Many shared their concerns that appointments are missed or delayed because of the difficulty finding a space, and sick or grieving people, and those with mobility issues, are especially hard-hit.
Anne Gwinett said: "The lack of adequate parking on the hospital sites makes traffic on local roads worse, and it also causes huge distress, and stress, to ill people and those trying to visit the dying. This is inhumane."
One woman described taking her chronically ill son to the hospital when he wasn't well enough to use the park and ride by dropping him at the front door then 'praying' that she could find a space to park.
The demands for the multi-storey come four years after then-councillor Mick Haines started a similar petition in 2022 for a decked car park at the hospital.
Nothing came of the petition, despite it having almost 5,000 online signatures and 1,300 on paper.
And the issue affects staff, too, as a planning application from the hospital Trust for 16 staff parking spaces which was recently withdrawn revealed that 136 staff spaces have been lost since January 2024.
Oxford University Hospitals has previously declined to comment on the matter.
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