PEOPLE in Marlborough and Pewsey who use the X5 bus to get to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon face walking partway to their appointments from September, after learning the bus will no longer make a stop in the hospital grounds.

The Salisbury Reds X5 service, which runs through Pewsey and Marlborough before going into the centre of Swindon, currently drops people off directly at the hospital buildings. The change, which comes into effect from September 4, means it will now drop and pick up passengers on the Marlborough Road, because traffic congestion on the GWH site is delaying the bus so much it is then late along the rest of the route.

Carrie Vigor, 26, of Rabley Wood View, Marlborough, said: "My son Teddie, who is 10 months old, has multiple needs including being tube fed, a heart condition and development delay and we have up to five appointments a month at GWH. Me and my partner cannot drive.

"I'm worried about crossing the road to catch the bus back to Marlborough, because even though it does have a crossing it is a very busy road. I am also not looking forward to lugging my son in his pushchair with his medical equipment, and all the other things a baby needs, up to the hospital.

"The bus stop to come back to Marlborough is very exposed and has no shelter, which will be awful in heavy rain especially for the elderly and young children. It is also dangerous that the bus will have to cross three lanes close to the junction to get into the correct lane for the A419 which will not be easy on such a busy road."

Other bus users told the Gazette this week they felt the change would add more stress for sick people using the service to travel to the hospital. The service, which runs every hour, is also used by staff getting to and from work and people visiting patients at GWH.

Barbara Draper, of Fairfield Cottages, Pewsey said: “If people are getting the bus it is because they are ill or visiting people and this just adds a fair bit of stress on them. It is a great service but it is a shame to see this happening.”

However Raymond Marshall, of Holly Tree Close, Pewsey, said: “I can understand why it is happening, the whole area gets choked up with traffic and it does cause a lot of waiting for people driving. Coming out of the hospital is usually fine.”

The Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are disappointed to learn that Salisbury Reds X5 bus service will no longer be stopping at the Great Western Hospital and have contacted Salisbury Reds to share our concerns about how this will impact on patients and visitors.

"We were not contacted by the bus service to discuss their plans and would have ensured they were aware of our work to increase parking spaces for staff which will help traffic flow.

"We are a very busy hospital and our parking team work hard to keep traffic flowing, often directing buses via alternative routes at peak times and directing visitors travelling by car to speed up parking.”

The bus company says between 20-30 minutes travel time will be saved, ending the risk of the service getting caught in the traffic which clogs the approach road to the hospital.

Alex Chutter, Salisbury Reds' operation manager, said: “We decided not to continue serving internal roads at Great Western Hospital because congestion there was causing considerable delays for our customers. When we reviewed this service, our aim throughout was to improve reliability for those travelling across the route as a whole.

“Whilst I understand the concerns of those travelling to and from the hospital, I would like to reassure people that it will be accessible to our customers, despite the changes. The X5 will continue to stop on Marlborough Road, which means our passengers will notice a significant improvement on journey times.”

The timetable changes also mean that from September the X5 service will not leave the main road to call into the village of Chiseldon, leaving people wanting to go there to walk from the A346 main road. The bus comany says usage is low through the village and other services cover the area. The move is also being made in the hope of saving time on the route overall.