Gridlock at Coventry University Hospital

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Traffic around University Hospital in Coventry is now so bad that ambulances are being diverted in through a ‘side gate’ to avoid the gridlock.



Meanwhile sick patients arriving by bus have been forced to trek half a mile across the Walsgrave site because the drivers could not reach the hospital doors.

Despite the chaos plans to ease the congestion by building a second entrance and more parking spaces have been delayed again.

That has angered many patients and visitors to the hospital.

One told the Telegraph: “Going to hospital is stressful enough without having to queue for 30 minutes to get in.

"This needs to be sorted out as soon as possible.”

University Hospital has opened the side entrance in Hall Lane four times in recent weeks so ambulances can avoid the congested main entrance.

The little-known route is normally only used if a car crash or heavy snow causes major traffic problems.

However, bosses are now having to use it to cope with day-to-day traffic.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said some motorists blocked the ‘red route’ normally reserved for emergency vehicles when traffic to and from the hospital was heavy.

A spokeswoman said this caused some problems, but the hospital and ambulance service had put contingency plans in place.

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'Route rethink' at Coventry's University Hospital due to congestion

Officials at University Hospital in Coventry are looking at ways to ease congestion around the site after complaints from patients.

Patients and staff have said they are regularly caught up in traffic trying to get into the site.

Chief executive Andrew Hardy said more access routes could be created.

Coventry Link, a patients' pressure group in the city, said it would assess the scale of the problem by spending five days at the site.

Chairman David Spurgeon said he had been told about the problems and the group would spend time at the site after Christmas.

'Ambulances waiting'

"Only having one access road on the site was a crazy idea when it was built," he said. "As the number of people going to the hospital has increased over the years, it has got worse."

David Jenkins, from the union Unison, said unless an emergency, even ambulance crews had to wait in the traffic.

Mr Hardy said the hospital was talking to the city council and would try to ease congestion as soon as possible.

"One of the things we are going to be trialling early in the new year is looking at should we just try a one-way system so we can see how that goes around because we know where the pinch points, the block points, are on site," he said.

"It's not actually the number of parking spaces on site. We're working with the council...it's not just on that one potential access route into the site at the hospital but others as well.

"We're looking at other areas where potentially we can have a second and, in the long-term, third access on to the site."