"Radiotherapy at Ninewells"

Dear mayjk79

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback using Care Opinion. I'm very sorry to read that the most stressful part of attending Ninewells for radiotherapy treatment every day was the lack of parking. On behalf of NHS Tayside I would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to you.

Ninewells Hospital has one of the largest car parks within Scotland, with 2,437 spaces available. The site can experience significant parking demands at peak times, which is a similar experience as most large acute hospitals. Over the years we have introduced a number of measures to make the best use of the space and to manage car parking effectively.

There are strict parking arrangements in place with signage in all areas outlining the parking arrangements and clear notification of penalties should a member of staff or visitor fail to comply with these arrangements.

Car parks 5, 6, 7, East Block car park and the Renal Unit car park are dedicated short-stay parking specifically for patients and visitors and are close to the entrances of the hospital. All vehicles using short-stay car parks, including blue badge holders, must clearly display a free ‘collect and display’ parking ticket. This allows a consistent turnover of spaces with a recent analysis of the short-stay car parks showing that a space is used on average four times a day by patient and visitors.

There are also dedicated patient/visitor drop-off areas close to the main entrance and long-stay parking is available for staff, patients and visitors within car parks 1, 2, 9 and the multi-storey (car park 8).

As a public sector organisation, we are committed to delivering environmental policies and targets, including the identification and promotion of alternative sustainable modes of transport. We encourage patients, visitors and staff to consider alternative ways of getting to hospital whenever possible, such as using public transport, cycling, walking or arranging to be dropped off by a relative or friend. Ninewells is very well served by local buses and has a bus terminus at the main entrance, which was developed in partnership with Dundee City Council.

We also recently reintroduced the Liftshare scheme, which encourages staff to share car journeys to work, and are finalising an active travel strategy. These are all part of a range of measures to offer information on alternatives to car-based journeys to help alleviate pressure on the finite number of car parking spaces on the Ninewells site.

NHS Tayside will continue to engage with local authorities, other NHS Boards, and travel planning and public transport organisations to help support access to our hospital facilities.

I note your comments around a solution for car parking similar to that used in Perth Royal Infirmary and value your feedback and suggestion. hope the above provides reassurance that NHS Tayside continues to work proactively to effectively manage parking on the Ninewells site.

With best wishes for your ongoing recovery

Billy Alexander

Head of Soft Facilities

NHS Tayside

Dear Mayjk79,

My name is Jenna-I'm one of the therapeutic radiographers who works in the radiotherapy department.

Firstly, I want to thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback-it is so important for us to know what our patients experiences have been like when they come to have treatment.

I'm so sorry that you had a stressful experience when there was a machine breakdown, I can understand why you would have found this emotional with the long wait and not knowing if you would definitely receive treatment that day, especially when you are trying to fit in working aswell. I'm glad that we were able to accommodate you however and that you found the staff to be lovely which will get passed on-thank you.

With regards to the parking-I can't apologise enough for the stress that this causes-we do hear this often from our patients and it is always passed on to our management who take it for discussion at organisational meetings. Your comments about staff using this car park will also be passed on. It is just another thing to have to deal with when you are going through a difficult time as it is and we wish there was a better solution.

On behalf of the radiotherapy team, we wish you well for the future.

Take care, Jenna