A cab driver has hit out at the NHS authorities for “failing” to make the new Aldershot Centre for Health more accessible for elderly and disabled patients.

Roger Watkins said he felt “let down” after his plea for a dedicated taxi rank to help less able people get to the £28million development was ignored.

A free phone to a local taxi firm is provided at the centre, which opened in August, but there are no plans for a rank.

Mr Watkins said he told Hampshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) that a dedicated taxi rank would be needed when the centre was being planned.

“They originally talked about building the centre near Church Lane East where people who live in Aldershot could walk to it,” he added. “Then they decided to put it on Hospital Hill.

“They’ve taken the facility away from where people need it and put it on a hill, where nobody can get to it.

“There’s a drop-off point outside but taxis can’t stay there, which makes it so much harder for old and disabled people to get in and out. I feel let down.”

Mr Watkins also criticised the single bus service in place to take passengers to and from the centre.
He said the Stagecoach bus, which runs every ten minutes from Aldershot town centre and stops in Hospital Road before continuing on to Farnborough, Frimley and Camberley, was not enough.

“Not everyone has a car or can afford to get a taxi, so the only other option if they can’t walk there is to get a bus,” said Mr Watkins.

“One bus service is not enough. More public transport needs to be provided.”

An initial travel plan draft was drawn up in the summer of 2007 with a second made last Christmas and a final version submitted in April.

Then patients’ complaints about the pending pay and display car park, the bus stop being too far from the centre doors and a lack of parking in general prompted Hampshire Action Team (HAT) — a cross-party forum of county councillors from Rushmoor and Hart — to produce a revised plan.

Following consultation with residents from both areas, the group suggested that a community transport service taking people from Fleet to the centre, provided by Rushmoor Voluntary Service, would reduce the number of staff driving to work and taking up parking spaces.

The team called for signs to direct people from Aldershot town to the building, a pay-as-you-leave rather than a pay-and-display parking system and a change machine to be installed in the car park.

Consideration over the timing and number of deliveries made to the centre was also requested.

Cllr Mike Roberts, who represents Aldershot’s Heronwood ward on Rushmoor Borough Council, told the Mail that  the bus stops would be moved nearer the centre within eight to ten weeks and plans for a bus shelter were under way.

This had come about as a result of a meeting between the action team, centre project manager Catherine Webster, Rushmoor’s highways engineer John Trussler and Stagecoach.

Cllr Roberts, vice-chairman of Hart and Rushmoor Patient and Public Involvement Forum, said: “This is one piece of good news at least.

“It was not even mentioned in the travel plan how people were going to get to the centre and in what form.

“We are discovering more and more problems of access since the centre became live in August. I think Roger Watkins’ views are well made.

“Public transport is as im-portant for people with medical conditions who may not be able to get access by taxi.

“It is extremely difficult once you have built a building. The facility with regard to access and egress becomes challeng-ing when you want to make progress.”

Catherine Webster main-tained that the centre was “well served” by the single bus service running to the facility every ten minutes.

“The current transport serving the centre is a result of a travel plan which was produced as part of the de-velopment of the new Centre for Health and entailed consultation with local stakeholders prior to the centre opening,” she said.

“The centre also has a free phone to a local taxi firm which provides a service to call a taxi as and when needed, and taxis then arrive as soon as possible.

“There are no plans for a taxi rank. However, we are currently working with Rushmoor Borough Council and Stagecoach to move the bus stop closer to the doors.”