Discounted travel for NHS appointments

While private medical appointments are not covered by the NHS discount scheme, some mainland-based private medical providers do have discounted rates in place with us.

Please contact your private provider to see if/what arrangements they have with us.

We understand that you may need extra support when travelling to or from your hospital appointment and staying in your vehicle during the crossing may help you.

The legal requirement (MSN 1823 – Regulation 25.14 and The Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction: Ships of Classes III to VI (A)) Regulations 1998 (SI1998/2515) Reg 71)) is for passengers to vacate vehicles during a ferry crossing and we cannot guarantee a request to stay in your vehicle under any circumstances.

Each request is considered only in extraordinary circumstances and added to your booking if there are no other restrictions already in place.

At the time of sailing only, the Captain of the ship will conduct a Dynamic Risk Assessment to determine if it is safe for the request to be authorised based on the ships load, crew and weather conditions.

If it is determined that it is not safe to remain in your vehicle, you can either choose to travel on the booked sailing and make your way to the passenger lounges or we will offer you an alternate sailing time.

Call our dedicated Assisted Travel line on 0800 093 8236, Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00 and Saturday to Sunday 09:00 to 17:00, to discuss your requirements.

If we experience delays or disruption to our car ferries or FastCat services, we will make sure you are contacted and advised if we need to move your sailing time to make sure your travel requirements are accommodated.

Please make sure we have your email address and/or your mobile phone number on your booking so we can notify you of any changes to our services in advance or on the day of travel.

If you’re an Isle of Wight resident that meets the eligibility of ‘low income’, the Discounted Fare Scheme will provide a fixed price on car, motorbike and foot passenger travel on all our routes across the Solent.

Find out more about this scheme and whether you are eligible on our special offers webpage.

If you’re referred to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostic tests by a doctor, dentist or another primary care health professional, you may be able to claim a refund of reasonable travel costs under the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS).

Each of our mainland ports is well connected to major transport routes. From our Portsmouth ports in Gunwharf and Harbour, you’ll be within a few minutes’ walk from the Hard Interchange, a major bus and coach station.

From here, there are four services that can get you to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham – First Bus’ 3 and 8 or Stagecoach’s 20 and 23.

If you’ve travelled on our Yarmouth – Lymington route for an NHS appointment at Southampton General Hospital, you can catch the train from the pier into Lymington town station, from where you can catch Bluestar’s 6 service into Southampton.

You’ll need to change over at Millbrook roundabout onto Bluestar’s 7 service, which stops outside the hospital.