Wonderful news about new funding for St Mary’s Hospital (CP online, 13-10-22).

What does need to be addressed is accessibility.

While volunteering there I was involved in a survey of access to the hospital. Golf-type buggies were mooted but came to nothing.

It is quite a walk from the bus stop on Parkhurst Road, even to the south entrance.
To the north entrance is even more difficult.

There are never any porters or wheelchairs, yet this is where the eye and chest units are situated, on a steep ramp.

Not everyone has someone who can drop them off by car, let alone wait and pay the extortionate parking fees. (Why do you have to pay to visit a hospital? We are not popping in to shop.)

I have seen a long queue waiting to pay outside, when it was sleeting.

After my last outpatient appointment it took my IT-literate husband almost two minutes to pay.

The buses from Newport to Cowes could easily divert via the north entrance and return via the south entrance, and porters and wheelchairs should be the norm.

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