The Last Thirty Metres to the Scanner

An imaging appointment begins at the kerb, not at the scanner. A drop-off point needs a level bay, a flush kerb and a clear route of at least 900 mm to the department entrance. If the distance from the car park to the scanner exceeds roughly 50 m of self-propelled wheeling, the journey becomes the hardest part of the visit.

What does a hospital drop-off point need?

A drop-off point is a piece of highway and building work, not a courtesy. Approved Document M sets the accessible threshold at 15 mm for a chamfered upstand and 5 mm for a square one; anything above that is a step, and a step stops a wheelchair, a rollator and a walking frame. The bay itself should be at least 2400 mm wide and 4800 mm long to take a side-loading vehicle with a tail lift, with a 1200 mm transfer zone beside the passenger door.

The kerb at the drop-off must be dropped flush, not merely lowered. A 25 mm lip at the kerb line is enough to catch a small front castor and tip a seated passenger forward. The route from the bay to the entrance should be 1500 mm wide where two people pass, 900 mm at pinch points, and free of gratings, bollards and A-boards. Where a covered canopy exists, it should extend over the whole transfer zone, because a wet ramp at 1 in 12 is a different surface from a dry one.

A department that publishes its access information before the appointment removes most of this uncertainty. The same principle applies to the clinical side of the visit, where the request, the justification and the report all follow a written route: the process is described in plain terms at inside the scanner, from the clinician's request to the returned report.

How far is too far to push a wheelchair from a car park?

There is no single legal maximum, but there is a practical one. A self-propelled wheelchair user on a level, smooth surface can manage roughly 50 m to 70 m without undue fatigue; on a 1 in 20 slope, that figure falls sharply. A companion pushing a manual chair over 100 m on a gradient is doing manual handling, and the department should treat it as such.

BS 8300-1:2018 gives the design benchmark: accessible parking bays should be located on the shortest practicable route to the entrance, and where the route exceeds 50 m, resting places with a seat and a backrest should be provided at intervals not exceeding 50 m. The Equality Act 2010 duty to make reasonable adjustments applies to the whole journey, not just the building. A trust that counts the distance from the furthest bay to the imaging department, and publishes it, has done the first useful thing.

Where the car park is genuinely remote, the answer is a set-down point at the door plus a wheelchair available at reception. That is a service decision, and it belongs in the appointment letter.

What should a department publish about access before an appointment?

A department should publish four things, in the appointment letter and on its own page: the location of accessible bays and the drop-off point, the distance and gradient from each to the imaging department, the width of the doors on the route, and the transfer arrangements at the scanner table.

Door leaf widths matter more than people expect. A 900 mm clear opening is the working figure for a wheelchair; a 800 mm leaf in a 100 mm frame gives less than that once the door stop is counted. A department that states "900 mm clear opening at the imaging suite entrance" has told the patient something usable.

The transfer onto the table is the last thirty metres in miniature. A standard CT or MRI table sits at roughly 550 mm to 600 mm from the floor in its lowered position, and a patient who can stand and pivot needs a stable footstool and a staff member briefed to stand on the correct side. A patient who cannot transfer needs a hoist, a sliding sheet and a table rated for the load. Changing Places guidance sets out the ceiling track hoist, the 500 kg rated bench and the 1000 mm clear transfer space on both sides; an imaging department that has none of this should say so before the appointment, not on the day.

The route inside the building

The route from the entrance to the imaging department is part of the same measurement. Corridors should be 1500 mm wide, with 1800 mm turning space at the department door. A 1500 mm by 1500 mm turning circle is the minimum for a wheelchair to reverse into a doorway; 1800 mm is the comfortable figure where a hoist or a trolley is involved.

Lifts are the common failure point. A lift car of 1100 mm by 1400 mm takes a wheelchair and one companion; a stretcher trolley needs 1500 mm by 2000 mm. Where the imaging department is on an upper floor and the only lift is a passenger car, the appointment letter should say which lift is used for trolley transfers and where it is.

The threshold at the scanner room door

The scanner room door is often the tightest point on the whole route. A lead-lined door for MRI is heavy, and a self-closing mechanism can make a 900 mm opening feel like 700 mm. The threshold should be flush, or no more than 15 mm with a chamfer, and the door should have a hold-open device that staff can operate.

Inside the room, the floor should be level from the door to the table. A 1 in 12 ramp inside a scanner room is unusual but not unknown, and it changes the transfer. Where a ramp exists, its gradient and length should be stated in the pre-appointment information, because a patient who can transfer on the level may not be able to transfer on a slope.

Who to ask, and when

Ask the imaging department, not the main switchboard. The person who books the appointment can confirm the door widths, the bay distances and the hoist provision, and can arrange a pre-visit if the patient wants one. A pre-visit is a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010 and does not require a clinical reason.

The last thirty metres are measurable. A bay, a flush kerb, a 900 mm door, a 1500 mm corridor, a 1800 mm turning space and a table at 550 mm are all figures a department can check and publish. An appointment that starts at the kerb with those numbers already known is an appointment that starts on time.