"I tried to park in every car park and there were no spaces"

Arrived at Ninewells Hospital Dundee at 10:15am, 45 mins before my appointment at 11am. I tried to park in every car park available and there were no spaces. Clearly others were becoming frustrated as they were stopping at the entrance at the drop off/pick up and disabled parking area and waiting until they saw a car leave which blocked all the traffic that hadn’t been able to park in the other car parks and wanted to loop round to either try again or try the ones nearer the entrance to Ninewells drive. There was no attendants dealing with this situation despite drivers beeping horns to encourage them to keep moving.

While queuing for the multi-storey car park, at 10:50, I phoned the department my appointment was with to explain where I was and they said it was an ongoing problem. I queued for approx 30 mins but as only one car had got in to the car park in this time, I reversed out the queue along with others, and drove along to the TORT clinic where I eventually abandoned my car as carefully as I could and ran to my appointment.

Unfortunately as I didn’t get to the reception desk until 11:30. I was informed I’d missed my appointment and there was nothing they could do. They told me this happens regularly and that the situation is getting worse with more and more appointments being missed. I asked if I could wait but was told the clinic was closing after the next patient.

I’d be really interested to know how many patients missed their appointments on that day due to the parking issues and how much this must be costing the NHS and adding an additional burden on waiting lists for important appointments. As I took a day off my work (unpaid) it has been a wasted day for me too and an inconvenience to my work place. It does say on my appointment letter to arrive in plenty of time for your appointment but had I not abandoned my car, I would not have managed to get a space 1 hour and 15 minutes after I arrived. It should maybe state that outpatients and visitors should avoid bringing a car and use public transport as this situation is unfair and unsustainable for all.