I recently had to attend the RD and E Hospital in Exeter for an endoscopy examination (a procedure where a camera is inserted down the throat into the stomach and as far as the upper area of the digestive system). The staff there led by Dr Jane… were fabulous, totally professional and they made the experience absolutely nothing to be worried about, (even without sedation which is offered). Patients can even view their own innards…..if they can, ..er …stomach it!
What I found much harder to swallow than the camera and tube, was outside afterwards, the horrendous car parking charges!
Technically we had to pay £6.40, for 1 hour 35 minutes ( that equates to £102.33. for 24 hours). The signs say that you can park for 30 minutes free, but when you actually come to pay you discover that you need to pay for all of your stay if it is over the 30 minutes, and our 2 hrs 5 minutes pushed us into the 2- 4 hour category. (It’s a state of the art digital machine, it could easily calculate your stay into nano seconds, and charge accordingly.)
So we had to pay for 1 hr 55 mins un used car park time and it’s not even possible to pass on your ticket to another patient to ease their day a little, because the tip top ace machine photos your registration plate entering and leaving the site. (It’s another story but we had a battle with it to prevent getting fined, we were supposed to be ‘on the system to not pay’ because we were taking part, as unpaid volunteers, in a 4 year medical study and had to visit several times each summer )
Back to the story, we had to travel in by car because had I required sedation patients must have a person with them, and also at that time in the morning the buses have not started on Sunday. The car park was almost deserted it wasn’t even necessary to ration spaces.
"Hospital car parking charges"
About: Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / Endoscopy Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) Endoscopy Exeter EX2 5DW
Posted by Peter Carrot-Cruncher (as ),
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