Hospital transport links improved

About 1,200 staff are to be moved to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital

Year-long work to improve transport links before extra staff and services are moved to a major city hospital has got under way.

Services and 1,200 staff are to be moved from the Radcliffe Infirmary to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

Bus services are to be improved and public parking increased in time for the move in January 2007.

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust is to create two new bus-only road links to Saxon Way and London Road.

Overspill parking

The trust said the new roads would enable buses to access the hospital more directly and more often.

The number of parking spaces for patients and visitors will be increased from about 500 to 800.

As part of its wider review of bus services in Oxford this year, the county council is looking at how buses might better serve the hospital.

The council is also to consult local people on plans for new parking controls around the site in Marston and Northway designed to protect residential areas from overspill parking.

Councillor David Robertson, the council's cabinet member for transport, said: "It is crucial that transport improvements are made to make access to the hospitals easier for everybody."