"Please do something about the parking"

Hello Huggh75

My name is Kevin Patterson I am the Facilitator for Patient and Client Experience for the Belfast Trust, I also manage the Front of House reception desk in the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Thank you for posting your story on Care Opinion I am so glad to hear that the team were on both occasions very helpful and so were the porters in helping you get a wheelchair. I will pass these lovely comments to the team, they will be delighted to hear the positive feedback.

I can see that the team in charge of the car parking have been sent this story also and they will respond in due course. Again thank you for the lovely feedback for the Front of House team this really does make a difference to hear the positive impact we have made to yourself.

Many thanks

Kevin Patterson

Good morning

My name is Michelle O`Halloran and have responsibility for Belfast Trust carparking. Please accept my apologies on behalf of Patient & Client Support Services (PCSS) for your recent carparking experience on the RVH site.

The Belfast Trust encourages staff to commute to work by public transport, walking, cycling, by motorbike or to car share. Despite this, the demand for carparking by staff exceeds the limited amount of carparking available – particularly on the RVH site. Allocated carparking for staff reached capacity a number of years ago. As a consequence, staff often park in the public carparks and pay the daily tariff and this impacts on spaces. This can add to the anxiety that many patients and their families may already be experiencing and leads to understandable levels of frustration. The Belfast Trust is in the process of trying to secure some offsite parking spaces for staff to free up spaces for patients and their families. PCSS have also changed an area on site to disabled staff parking only in an attempt to free up blue badge spaces for patient/visitor use.

To ensure that available staff parking provision is targeted towards those in greatest need, the Trust recently agreed to apply carpark access criteria for staff. This will result in more spaces being available for patients and their families. The Trust also operates a free Park N Ride from Blacks Road to the RVH for staff to try to alleviate some of the pressures of carparking on this site. The Trust is also preparing for the Hospital Parking Charges Act coming into effect in May 2026. This Bill will result in tighter controls around access to carparks and will alleviate the current carparking queues.

As the demand for blue badges spaces on our sites are increasing, we changed the set down area (to the left as you enter via the Broadway entrance) to a waiting area. If patients can be dropped off (we appreciate this will only be an option if accompanied by family members) then family members can wait here in the vehicle until their relative can be collected.

I hope the above explains some of the measures being taken to improve parking for patients and their families. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further issues relating to car parking and my apologies again for your recent experience.

Kind regards

Michelle O`Halloran

Patient & Client Support Services