Hospital sign: what it means

Hospital sign: a red upright rectangle with a large white H and the words A and E not 24 hrs
Image: Crown copyright, OGL

A red hospital sign with an H shows the way to a hospital with an accident and emergency department or urgent treatment centre. A blue H sign means a hospital without one.

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What it means

Know your traffic signs: hospitals with accident and emergency departments or urgent treatment centres are shown by red signs, and blue signs show hospitals without accident and emergency facilities. The words not 24 hrs are left off when the facilities are open at all times.

On direction signs, the route to a hospital may be shown by an H on a red or blue patch, which tells you the same thing.

Where you see it

On roads approaching a hospital and on direction signs along the route to it.

A common mistake

Following any H sign in an emergency. Check the colour: red for accident and emergency or urgent treatment, blue for none. This one also says not 24 hrs, so it is not open all the time.

Quick quiz

What does a blue hospital sign tell you?

  1. The hospital has accident and emergency
  2. The hospital has no accident and emergency
  3. The hospital is closed
Show answer

B. The hospital has no accident and emergency. Blue hospital signs show hospitals without accident and emergency facilities. Source: Know your traffic signs: information signs, GOV.UK; The Highway Code: traffic signs, GOV.UK; Traffic sign images, Department for Transport, GOV.UK

Compare with

Next in information signs: Start of motorway sign. See all information signs or the full road signs list.

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Sources

  1. Know your traffic signs: information signs, GOV.UK
  2. The Highway Code: traffic signs, GOV.UK
  3. Traffic sign images, Department for Transport, GOV.UK

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Traffic sign images are Crown copyright, from the Department for Transport. Sources and image credits.