Thursday 21 November 2013

Macmillan uncovers hospital parking lottery

Macmillan research has revealed the full cost of hospital parking in England. While some hospitals offer free parking to cancer patients, others charge up to £3 an hour for parking.
To find out how you can challenge costs in your area, order a campaign pack.
Macmillan Cancer Support surveyed hospital trusts in England to find out about their parking policies - and found huge variations, patients face a lottery in the price of hospital parking and the availability of discounts.
Despite government guidance stating that hospitals should offer free or reduced parking to cancer patients, many still face the burden of these costs. Macmillan is campaigning for all hospitals to remove car parking charges for cancer patients.
Read their report on car parking charges to find out more. Download the report 
  • The average daily cost of using a hospital car park is £7.66, but the situation is a lottery. Some hospitals offer completely free parking, while others charge anything from £2 to £24 a day
  • Despite government guidance, 59% of hospitals in England are still charging at least some cancer patients to use the car park
  • Almost 10% of hospitals in England have ignored government guidance completely and continue to charge cancer patients the full price for parking.

Monday 11 November 2013

Community transport groups are struggling to cope

From the EDP October 22, 2013

Two north Suffolk community transport groups have called for action from the NHS as they struggle to cope with the rising demand of passengers needing to attend hospital appointments. 

The Beccles and Bungay Area Community Transport (BACT) and the Halesworth Volunteer Centre were set up to provide transport to people who do not have easy access to other forms of public transport to allow them to go shopping, visit relatives or attend important appointments with health professionals. 

However, both groups say they have faced an increase in demands for hospital transport since the NHS in Suffolk and Norfolk introduced the single point of assessment in 2011, putting an end to the days when patients were given free access to hospital transport to their appointments by asking their GPs. As a result, hundreds of people with no access to other forms of transport are turning to community transport operators to find a way of attending their appointments. 

Debbie Blowers, BACT manager, said: “The demand for hospital transport is out of control. It is putting a huge strain on resources, which is simply not sustainable. The ramifications are that our budgets will run short and those who need transport for essential tasks such as shopping, paying bills, attending appointments or even to take part in social activities will get pushed down the priority list in favour of those needing to get to hospital. 

“Our volunteer drivers are becoming fed-up as they are spending so much time at hospitals which is not what they signed up to do and it certainly isn’t only what community transport services were set up to do, but is increasingly now our main activity with no extra funding to do it. 

“The NHS is taking advantage of the good nature of community transport schemes throughout Norfolk and Suffolk who do not like to let anyone down. However, the passenger requests for hospital work are putting a strain on the schemes, their employees and their wonderful volunteers and we are at the stage of not knowing where else to turn to.” 

BACT figures show that the number of people using the service to go to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital has risen from about 100 per month to 180 since the beginning of the year, while journeys to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston have risen from 80 per month to nearly 200. And figures from Halesworth Volunteer Centre show journeys have risen from 465 between April and September 2012, to 709 between April and September this year. 

Suffolk Community Transport, an umbrella group set up to support the county’s individual community transport operators, has been involved in talks with the NHS and further discussions are planned later this month. 

Andy Evans, chief executive of HealthEast, said: “NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group, locally known as HealthEast, is responsible for planning and commissioning patient transport services. 

“This is for patients who need clinical support during their journeys, and who are unable to travel by other means. The service is provided locally by the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust since April 1 this year. It’s delivered in line with national eligibility criteria set by the Department of Health. Patients who do not meet the criteria may be eligible for financial help with the cost of their journey. 

“We know that concerns have been growing among community transport groups about increasing pressure on their services, and we are arranging a meeting, together with representatives from EEAST, to discuss how we can work together.”
This report is reinforced by the data from the Southwold Voluntary Help Centre. Between April - August of 2012 they 345 trips to hospitals and in the same frame in 2013 they have made 465 trips. 

Thursday 7 November 2013

If 200 new homes for Framlingham, please ask where are the buses?

On Tuesday 19th November Taylor Wimpey East Anglia is hosting a public exhibition to give local people the chance to view and comment upon emerging planning proposals for a new residential development on land to the east of Fairfield Road, Framlingham.

According to the OSM NaPTAN bus stop database, there are no bus stops along Fairfield Road. We hope local people will ask, what contribution to local transport infrastructure will this development bring?

Prior to this consultation event being opened to the general public, there will be a private preview exhibition which for members of Framlingham Town Council, Suffolk Coastal District Council, Suffolk County Council, plus local businesses and community groups.
.
This private viewing session will take place at Framlingham United Free Church in Albert Place, Framlingham, on Tuesday 19th November between 2pm and 3pm, and will be attended by Taylor Wimpey representatives and other members of the project team. Taylor Wimpey happy to talk in detail about our proposals and answer any questions you may have.

They are proposing to submit a detailed planning application for up to 200 new homes on this site, which has been identified as being suitable for a residential development of this scale in Suffolk Coastal District Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (2010).

By coming along to the stakeholder preview consultation and providing them with your feedback on the proposals, you can help to influence the details of the final scheme before they submit a planning application later in the year.

Please confirm your attendance by emailing framlinghamconsultation@webbpr.net. If you are unable to come along to the special preview session, you are of course welcome to attend the main public exhibition between 3pm and 8pm.


Wednesday 6 November 2013

Woodbridge Community Car Scheme needs your help



An innovative car scheme which provides transport for disadvantaged residents in and around a Suffolk town has suffered a blow after its new co-ordinator has been forced to step down due to ill health.

The devastating news means the Woodbridge Community Car Scheme – which helps residents who do not have access to other forms of transport to attended vital appointments, go shopping and visit friends and family – urgently needs to find a replacement co-ordinator to keep the service up and running.

It was only a few weeks ago the car scheme was celebrating being back in operation after recruiting the new coordinator whose predecessor had retired after holding the post for several years.

Scheme secretary Robert Brockbank said: “This is a very sad situation and our first thoughts are with Michael who had shown tremendous community spirit by agreeing to be our new coordinator, but has had no choice but to step down due to health issues. “We really are now in a very tricky situation as we simply cannot run the service without a coordinator to oversee its day to day running, so once again we are calling on a community minded individual to come forward to help us keep this valuable service running.

“The transport we provide really is a lifeline to many people such as the elderly, those with disabilities and others who cannot find access to other means of transport. Without us many local people would struggle to carry out simple tasks such as go shopping, pay bills or attend medical appointments, so anyone who has the time and ability to step in to this role would be making a huge difference to the community.”

The new coordinator would handle all calls to the service, arrange and confirm journeys, keep driver’s records up to date, attend occasional meetings on behalf of the organisation and keep quarterly accounts. The role can be home based, and expenses are paid.

Anyone who would like to learn more about becoming  the coordinator for the Woodbridge Community Car Scheme should contact Robert Brockbank on 01394 383641 or by post to St John’s Family Centre Woodbridge Ltd, St John’s Old Vicarage, 24 St John’s Hill, Woodbridge, IP12 1HS.

The service is run entirely by volunteer drivers who use their own cars on a non-profit making basis. Passengers contribute on a mileage basis towards the cost of a journey.

Media needing more information should contact Patrick Lowman on 07792 428555 or by email patrick_lowman@sky.com

Woodbridge Community Car Service is part of St John’s Family Centre Woodbridge Ltd which is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales No. 03720558, and a registered charity No. 1075415. St John’s Old Vicarage, 24 St John’s Hill, Woodbridge, IP12 1HS.

Friday 1 November 2013

Community Rail Partnership recognises 'Community'

A meeting of the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership (CRP) was held at 19:00 in the Day Centre London Road Halesworth on Tuesday 29th October 2013. 

Attending were myself, Nat Bocking, as a Halesworth Town Councillor and the HTC chair Annette Dunning, Glyn Buck of Brampton Station Adopters, James Steward, Area Customer Service Manager for Greater Anglia, Tim Ward, the CRP officer and Trevor Garrod, chairman of East Suffolk Transport Association and Geoff Butterwick, chairman of the CRP.

Geoff Butterwick outlined the role and recent history of the CRP and made an invitation for all those present to join the NORTH LINE GROUP of the partnership. The CRP is now divided into three groups, the north covers the railway line from Halesworth to Lowestoft, South covers Darsham to Ipswich and East is Westerfield to Felixstowe. When the three line groups are established, each will elect a representative to sit on the CRP board.

The East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership was launched in 2004, with aim of contributing to the objectives of the National Community Rail Strategy, i.e.

•     increasing ridership, freight use and revenue;
•     managing costs down;
•     bringing about greater involvement of the local community; and
•     enabling local rail to play a larger role in economic and social regeneration.

Some of the 'wins' of the CRP have been the Beccles Loop, improved signalling, establishing an hourly service and the integrated ticketing and scheduling of the Halesworth and Southwold buses but it has been acknowledged that the partnership has not been as active as it could in involving communities which is why it has reorganised itself to emphasise the 'community' and created a new board to give an enhanced role to representatives of the local communities served by the railway by creating these new line groups.

The present board consists of

Chairman - Geoff Butterwick
Suffolk County Council - Sally Harper and Tracy Vobe, Passenger Transport Manager (job share)
Ipswich Borough Council - Michael Newsham, Planning Regeneration and Transport
Waveney/SCDC - Dr. Carolyn Barnes, Projects Officer
Abellio Greater Anglia - Geraint Hughes, Partnerships Manager
Network Rail - TBA
North Line Group - TBA
South Line Group - TBA
East Line Group - TBA

The CRP officer Tim Ward can do the leg-work of contacting groups and setting up meetings and so on.

It was generally agreed by those attending that creating the North Line Group (NLG) would be a useful endeavour but that the outreach to local community groups and businesses to join the NLG was only just beginning.

Those attending pledged to contact people through their local networks of community and business groups to encourage participation in the CRP and the North Line Group.

Trevor Garrod and I agreed that initial meetings of the North Line Group should be coordinated with the existing GOING GREEN TRANSPORT PROJECT meetings to make it convenient for all attending. The next meeting of GGTP is December 3rd, 2013 at 10.30 am in the Halesworth Town Council Chamber, London Road. Therefore it's suggested that the next North Line Group meeting begins at 11.30 am. This will be subject to confirmation.

The annual cost of membership in the CRP has not been established. Discussing that and electing a chair for the North Line Group would be some of the first order of business.

The constitution of the CRP and other documentation is now online at



Anyone interested in participating in the Community Rail Partnership should contact Tim Ward at major.ward@btinternet.com