In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
NY wrote:
I'd not dream of driving to my local large hospital. Costs too much to
park there.

The problem is that if you need to take someone ill to hospital (maybe
even to A&E) there isn't really any alternative to driving there. The
patient is unlikely to be well enough to negotiate public transport.
And a taxi from a village or town to the city with the hospital would
be prohibitively expensive. Then when you get there you have to pay
extortionate over-a-barrel because-we-can parking charges, because the
NHS "free at the point of use" founding principle doesn't apply to
transport/parking.

Surely if someone is so unwell they need to travel many miles to a large
hospital, you'd call an ambulance?

Some years ago, I'd taken my mother-in-law to the GP. The doctor came out
and said "can you tak her straight to the hospital? It will be a lot
quicker than getting an ambulance." So we got to A&E and it was over 2
hours before anybody saw her.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England