NW London CSPC hospice inpatient units travel mapping analysis

Hospice in-patient bed provision currently works on the basis of catchment areas. In some cases, they overlap with the catchment area of other hospices. To understand how accessible, the units are to our population, we undertook a travel mapping analysis.

We examined the travel times of small geographical areas at peak time across public transport and driving and published the analysis here.

We looked at travel times for people accessing their closest hospice in-patient bed care unit (by travel time) and found that:

• Average peak time travel was 40 minutes by public transport and 19 minutes by car (driving).
• Populations in south Hillingdon and Hounslow have among the longest travel times to a hospice in-patient bed care unit because of the absence of alternatives in the area.
• With Pembridge Palliative Care Services in-patient unit suspended, average peak time travel for the whole NW London population is increased (by three minutes for public transport and two minutes for car).
• Looking more closely at the population for whom Pembridge Palliative Care Service is the closest hospice in-patient unit (in terms of travel time), shorter travel times to access the unit were experienced, when open, compared with the overall population travel times. The current suspension increases this group of residents travel time by 12 minutes on public transport and six minutes by car. The travel times for this group to the next nearest hospice is 43 minutes by public transport and 23 minutes by car which is comparable to the experience of the whole population (see table below for more information).
• Broadly, our hospice sites are located in areas within close proximity of deprived communities. 
• People living in these areas are not adversely impacted by longer travel times.