Wigan Infirmary Parking.

Unforrunately mother-in-Law admitted a couple of days ago... Me and her indoors turn to visit today... having first booked a visiting slot (One per day per patient) 1 - 2 pm our slot... drive round in circles on both car parks... drove round Freckleton street car park till I was dizzy... no on street spots available.... ended up at the top if spencer road near the cherry gardens... FREE parking for one hour.. five or six spots available before permit holders only section... Marvelous.... short stroll to the infirmary... you can stick your car parks..

People in cars complaining about other people in cars!

BB ask Ron for my email address & I'll tell you where to park

ta luv... why is Mr Ignore responding to my posts?

nanajacqui tap on my facial icon and scroll down... there is an old email there you can use... the one at virgin media

The real question has to be why are you responding to me but claiming to ignore me?

BB that's a Website not an email address

BB, you can park at ours anytime you like. A 10 minute walk from the infirmary if that's any good. Safe parking and for as long as you like.

That's what I'm offering Standisher .....we're kind aren't we

not a website... forget the http etc

BB Check your mail

Got it luv.... youre a star... and thanks WN1

You're welcome BB, yes we are Nana :) I think you might be nearer to RAE than me.

NJ is a member of, the helpful 'gang' she walks the walk, I know i could call on her to park there as well if need be and, she can call for help from me as well,

These FREE parking slots are not much good if you are visiting some one on a ward and the council know thisIt can take 10-15 mins to walk from the car to the ward this leaves you with 30 mins visiting then 10-15 mins to get back to your car that is your Free hour gone Same if you are using the Cafe it does not give much leeway to get in and be served have a drink/food and get back to your car.

PeterP

Correct, parking outside the hospital is a nightmare.

A couple of years ago, my Wife had an appointment at the hospital and we paid the minimum amount for parking on Wigan Lane as we were unable to park in the hospital, but expected to be out within the period for which we had paid.

However, due to appointments running late, I had to go back to the car and pay for more time.

If my Wife who had gone on her own, she would have been in no position to go back to the car.

The truth is that there is not enough parking within the grounds of the hospital as it is a out of date hospital compared to other hospitals in other towns an cities.

People in Wigan should be asking why the new hospital planned in the seventies to be built in Martland Mill area never happen!

Owd Codger

The new hospital you referred to was to be built in the Hindley area on the A58. It was intended to replace both Wigan and Leigh Infirmaries. A public consultation gave it the thumbs down.
The late Brian Strett when chair of WWL tried to get the Council to permit hospital parking on the Haigh Hall tractor car park at the Wigan Lane end.
The decision to make Spencer Road residents only parking deprived the hospital of a convenient parking area. You rarely see any residents cars parked on the Wigan Lane end of Spencer road.

You can park at my house but you will have to get the bus to the hospital. Better still park at your own house and get the bus to the hospital. Leave the spaces for the people who really need them

I would have thought that seeing as his Mother in Law is in the hospital, he would need a space on the car park. Offer still stands BB if ever you need it.

There should not be any charge to visit sick ones in hospital end off !!!!!!
OR is it the bloody -minded do gooders who run these trust's ,or the council ? who ever the hell it is stealing the money of people visiting loved ones , they should be shot ! GB .

GB

If ever there's a remake of 'Till death us do part' you'll be a shoe in for the part of Alf Garnett

GB,
I presume you would like the monies for the operating and maintenance of the car parks to come from the medical budget?

Broady

The car park income for all the hospital sites belonging to WWL will be nudging £2 million per year. Having to fund that from the hospitals budget would inevitably lead to clinical staff redundancies.

I know that and so do most other people. I don’t like paying parking monies but I see the need for them.

Golden bear please explain what do gooders have to do with it

"I would have thought that seeing as his Mother in Law is in the hospital, he would need a space on the car park".

True......but if for example there was a young family taking their kid in for cancer treatment or someone waiting to collect his missus to after her dialysis or someone rushing in to see a family member who has hours to live I would let them have the car park space before me, wouldn't you?.

Its all about priorities and thinking of others......some do, and it seems some obviously dont

True......but if for example there was a young family taking their kid in for cancer treatment or someone waiting to collect his missus to after her dialysis or someone rushing in to see a family member who has hours to live I would let them have the car park space before me, wouldn't you?.

Good point but flawed. How would you police such an initiative ?. Have sheets of A4 stuck in the windscreen stating the nature of your visit ? We've had nurses park their cars at the front of ours because of the situation round the corner. If they can't sort it out for staff, what chance Joe Public.

You don't need to Police it, You just ask those visiting the the hospital not to come by car if at all possible and leave the spaces for those who have no option.

Some (like me) will, but some (unfortunately) wont and the inevitable excuse will be...........because I am a lazy ******* I couldnt give a **** about anyone else and I believe I have a right to park wherever I want, whenever I want and for free and ******s to everyone else.

Unfortunately that's the nature of society these days. People who have mobility issues struggle with public transport and having use of a car is a godsend. The carpark around the corner was supposed to be the answer to the problem with a multi story car park mooted at one point. I've had reason to visit the hospital recently with a family member in for 3 weeks. I am lucky and was able to walk round and not use the car, but if I would have spent 20 minutes trying to find somewhere to park out of my 1 hour time slot, I wouldn't be a happy rabbit either. It's not a perfect world, anything but, but where we have the opportunity to be anything, be kind...... ( Caroline Flack )

"Unfortunately that's the nature of society these days"

Thats the nail hit squarely on the head.... its all about me me me

My wife was in hospital and I went to visit I did ,manage to get a space but my time was running out I told the nurse I had to go and put more money on the car she said wait a minuet and came back with a note signed by the sister to give me another hour,

Golden bear you still havnt explained what exactly the do gooders have done

Handsomeminer /
Being a northerner if you don't know now you never will >>>>>>GB

Handsomeminer

So there,,,,, and now yoo know

Neither has he explained where the monies for the operating and maintenance of the car parks will come from.

Not been to Wigan Infirmary for a good while but did they replace elsewhere in the hospital grounds the disabled bays where they built the Covid unit

PeterP

Wigan Infirmary needs a Multi Storey car park, in fact it needs a multi storey block, along the lines of Salford Royal, to replace that gothic monstrosity at the front, then they could double the capacity of the casualty department, and add many more beds to the hospital.

But the Wigan Bourgeoisie, the people in high up positions in the council, and a salary to match, they live in that area of Wigan, on Wigan Lane, and they don't want the skyline altered in case it reduces the value of their property, so they veto any proposals for building high rise blocs at Wigan Infirmary, before the proposals get started, and these are the same morons, who don't give a monkeys about destroying the central Wigan skyline, by building 500 flats in high rise blocks, on the old Market Square

TTS
Several years ago the Trust looked into building a multi storey block at the Clifton Crescent end of the hospital. At the time, and may still do the Trust owned several of the properties on Clifton Crescent.
The proposal included an underground car park and a retail floor.

TTS
Several years ago the Trust looked into building a multi storey block at the Clifton Crescent end of the hospital. At the time, and may still do the Trust owned several of the properties on Clifton Crescent.
The proposal included an underground car park and a retail floor.

gaffer

I have heard the same sort of things over the years, and it is years and years now, but nothing ever happens.

It was given an informal thumbs down the Town Hall.
It may well be that accommodating Wrightington orthopaedics in the block resulted in it being too big for the location.

Go on golden bear educate me

Gaffer

Why then, did the local rag in the seventies report the new Hospital to be built where I said?

The truth is that Wigan Infirmary is out of date and the time has come for a new hospital.

But as usual, we are second best Wigan and will remain so with the composition of the present Council.

I am sure that a long time ago it was proposed to build a brand new hospital between Ince Bar and Hindley. From memory some of the objections were from folk who would have to catch a bus into Wigan and another to the hospital. They must have forgotten that most had to do that to get to Billinge.

broady it would have been built on the site of the old fever hospital and Mellings farm at Amberswood.

I always thought it was to be built on the land up Makinsons Way but not sure.I think it was a good idea to build a much needed new hospital in Hindley/Ince area .

A few years ago, Bolton Royal Infirmary was the same kind of old out of date Victorian Hospital like Wigan and it was closed down. But they were in the fortunate position that they had another hospital called Bolton General Hospital (Townleys) which was not only renamed Royal Bolton Hospital, but upgraded and enlarged and also had the space for better and more parking due to it being near fields.

Why did they not do the same in Wigan with Billinge Hospital?

p.s. How long before the closed Bellingham Hotel is made into another "add on" facility, be it a department or if demolished, another car park?

Owd Codger

When the Blair government introduced the choice agenda into the NHS it led to expectant mothers on the Leigh side of Wigan opting to have their babies at the Bolton hospital. Similarly the ones on the Billinge side were opting for St. Helens. Geographically Billinge is in the wrong place for an acute hospital to serve Wigan and Leigh.
Twenty years ago Arthur Silcock offered the Bellingham site to the Royal Albert as a car park. His asking price was £250,000. It was deemed to expensive.
Insofar as building at Martland Mill is concerned I don’t know. However, it must be 35 years since Sandy Bradbury the lead campaigner for the new hospital for Wigan and Leigh announced the chosen site in Hindley.
At Wigan the A and E , diagnostics , maternity and cardiac catheter buildings are new. The outpatient building at the old Grammar school was remodelled to a new standard. Other parts have also been rebuilt so it’s more Elizabethan than Victorian.

On about Leigh, in the mid 1980s I was living and working in Atherton, and of course the people of Atherton, like Leigh and Tyldesley hated Wigan and Wigan infirmary, anything to do with Wigan, and at that time Leigh Infirmary was still more or less a stand alone hospital, with its own casualty department, the main thing I noticed was that at weekends, Wigan and Leigh infirmary's took it in turns to carry out emergency operations at the weekends.

But at that time there was the Firs Maternity Home in Plank Lane in Leigh, which was still operating, and it was basically the same as Billinge Hospital, it was the maternity hospital for Leigh and the surrounding areas, but it had a very bad reputation, and women were refusing to go there to give birth, they demanded to go to Billinge Hospital, and Billinge Hospital was quite a long way from Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley, but Billinge was where they wanted to go.

Gaffer

The distance from Wigan Town Centre to where Billinge Hospital was sited is not much different than the distance from Bolton Town Centre to where the now Royal Bolton Hospital is sited.

At Crewe, the hospital (Leighton Hospital) is even a further distance away from Crewe Town Centre.

As for the facilities at Wigan Infirmary being more Elizabethan than Victorian, you need to visit other parts of the country, especially down south to see how the hospitals compare in both facilities and parking.

I notice that the Wigan Trust has now changed its letter heading to include the words that it is now a teaching hospital, so how much money has been wasted on that at the expense of equipment and staff.

Tommy Two Stroke

The same opinion also applied to the Roy Hartley Maternity Unit at Billinge Hospital as many parents in Wigan will tell you. Both my Daughters were born there and on both births, my Wife and I had a bad experience there. In fact a friend of mine who lives in Wigan and whose Wife who was a maternity nurse, born in Bolton refused to have her children there and insisted that she have them at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

It is said that because of the bad reputation being so bad, that it was the reason why it was closed down and the maternity facilities moved to Wigan Infirmary.

Both of our kids were born at Billinge No problems with either birth but when my wife was on the ward(1 Week stay then) there was a overbearing ward sister who tried to make the new mothers lives a misery. She changed her tune after she got a roasting from me and I threatened to report her to her bosses. When our grandkids were born both were born at Bolton ,Daughter in law would have nothing to do with Wigan

Hansomeminer,
The problem is that these "do-gooders" went to University and studied medicine when they should have been out enjoying an orgy of hedonism with the other do-badders!

Then they have gone to work in hospitals, the blighters.

This is causing congestion, given all the support staff, patients, visitors etc which these places attract, and causing parking difficulties.

As Pol Pot demonstrated in the 1970's, if you get rid of all these doctors, you will not have this parking problem.

Still waiting golden bear

I have never heard anyone calling Billinge Hospital.

TTS look two comments up^^^^^^^^^^^

Owd Codger

The decision to close Billinge hospital was two fold. It had nothing to do with the quality of nursing care.
Although the two very bad experiences my wife had there would suggest that nursing care was a problem at times.
The Blair government choice agenda allowed expectant mothers to decide which hospital they wished to use to have their babies. The immediate result was that many on the Leigh side of Wigan opted for Bolton and on the other side St. Helens was the choice. In addition the Royal College of Midwives condemned the building because of the need to close the special care baby unit in periods of very cold weather. The hospital was in effect redundant. Whelley hospital suffered the same fate.
The benefit of being classed as a teaching hospital is that it can attract very high quality consultants because it gives them an opportunity to enhance their status and earnings.

Gaffer

"Nothing to do with the quality of care", you must be joking!

First of all, we were not the only parents around the Wigan area who had a bad experience at the Roy Hartley Maternity Unit. On the first occasion, my Wife was kept in a small ward at night and never saw any staff and when she requested to go home was told that there was a problem with the baby's bottom. On signing a form to get my Wife home and sending for the then district Nurse, she told us that all what wrong was that the staff had not been changing the babies nappies as they should have done and sent me to a nearby chemist for some cream which solved the problem.

On the second occasion, the anti natal unit got my Wife's pregnancy all wrong with the result that our child was born far too early, and which as far as we are concerned resulted in the disabilities that she has now.

On another occasion, my future father in law was in ill in the adjacent old Billinge Hospital and the family was so concerned about the standard of night care that they were taking it in turns to stay with him to make sure he was getting the right care and attention.

And the period in question was long before Blair was the Prime Minister.

As for Wigan Infirmary becoming a teaching hospital, I was not doubting that it perhaps could attract some top high quality consultants, but only giving a example of how money is wasted by the constant changing of the name of the trust. It was the same with Wigan Council when they changed the colour on letter headings etc from purple to green and hundreds of already printed A4 size sheets were consigned to the tip.

And when Whelley Hospital was indeed made redundant due to its services being moved elsewhere to not only the main Hospitals, but also Health Centres like the Boston health Centre and Sherwood Clinic etc, we on the east side of the town centre understood that another new Health Centre was to be built on the site and not houses as is the case now.

By the tone of your reply and defensive attitude, it tells me that you are in some way involved in the running of the medical health services in the Wigan area.