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Care Opinion

Car parking stress

Posted By diddle doddle

"Car parking stress"

About: Crosshouse Hospital

(as a relative),


Appointments

Appointments


I took my grand daughter to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, arriving at 9:15am. Not one single space available in either the short or long term car park holding approx. 1000 surface level car parking spaces. I just parked across 3 other cars as my daughter took her child into the hospital. Other cars passed me desperately looking for a space. Eventually I got a space and went into the hospital, observing that most patients were arriving by bus or being dropped off. So I had to conclude from the number of outpatients that I counted that most of the spaces were being used by staff, and judging by the quality and age of the cars in the car park only well paid staff could afford such vehicles. This situation is a disgrace to the NHS and an insult to the patients who are providing the funding for the hospital and staff salaries. Parking priority should be given to the patients and other arrangements made to provide parking for staff elsewhere.

Transport

Transport


Environment

Environment

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Responses

Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 6 years ago
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 06/12/2017 at 17:27
Published on Care Opinion at 17:30

picture of Eunice Goodwin

Dear diddle doddle,

I can hear how angry and disappointed you were because you struggled to find a parking space on your recent visit to Crosshouse. It is always stressful visiting the hospital whether it is an unscheduled or scheduled visit, with lots of fears about the outcome of our visit so I am very sorry that you had to experience this car parking trauma. We do have busy car parks in Ayrshire and Arran and this is in the main because of the high activity the services experiences. I thought these figures may be of interest and help explain the reason why parking can be difficult.

This is a snap shot of NHS Ayrshire and Arran hospital activity the for one week, from the 6th of November until the 12th of November

- 417 operations

- 2,171 hospital admissions

- 2, 439 new out patient appointments, (Crosshouse and Ayr)

- 4, 209 repeat / or follow-up appointments

- 713 Emergency Department attendances (Ayr)

- 1, 379 Emergency Department attendances (Crosshouse)

- 2, 171 Admissions (including the Community Hospitals

In fairness, we must also add visiting relatives/ friends and all the staff including a very long list of staff including all of whom are required to provide the services we expect when we attend our appointments.

Having said all this, I totally agree that parking priority should be given to the patients and I will raise this issue again with our estates team for their reflection.

Thank you for raising this issue, and I hope your grandchild is well,

Regards,

Eunice

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Update posted by diddle doddle (a relative)

Thanks Eunice for the detailed reply.

As space is clearly limited on the Hospital campus, how about managing a service like the airports with an off-site car park served by buses to take patients etc to the hospital and back? It would require a careful analysis by your Estates Team of the users to get the 'numbers' correct but there must be precedents for this solution at other hospitals in the UK or abroad. The benefit of knowing that a space would be available would give great comfort to all concerned. It could be managed via the web with a small payment to cover running and maintenance costs; however, I do appreciate that the outlay may be quite considerable, There is a large tract of arable land to the south of the hospital bounded by Kilmarnock Road and the B7081, and the bus service from Kilmarnock to Ardrossan, which is great, could be easily diverted to access the new car park, just like the A77 Megabus service calls into Silverburn Shopping Centre.

I have upgraded my initial estimate of the existing parking spaces from 1000 to 1500 by examining the Google satellite image, which is quite considerable, but clearly well short of requirements. Using your data, I remain to be convinced that these spaces are being used mostly by patients, and therefore I have to conclude that staff are taking up most of the car park.

I would be interested to see the outcome of your Estates Team analysis; a challenging survey lies ahead.

Best regards

Diddle Doddle

ps thanks for your kind thoughts about my g/daughter - she got great service !

Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 6 years ago
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 07/12/2017 at 15:27
Published on Care Opinion at 16:32

picture of Eunice Goodwin

Dear diddle doddle,

Thank you for your thoughts for improving the car parking and I have been able to establish that a comprehensive survey had been undertaken by Estates, which determined the number of spaces required and additional spaces were put in place bringing to a total of 2013 and by creating long stay and short stay facility. We also had car park wardens which assisted in patrolling the area, however, not currently employed. Sticking my neck out a little (what is new I hear folk say), finance is most certainly the elephant in the room.

The car parks are used by staff and patients/relatives and with many staff working 12+ hours days, you will appreciate that if have to be transferred to other parking areas we may not be giving the staff the rest time they need to care for patients.

Unfortunately the demands on the hospital has increasing significantly with ever increasing patient attending the site and the open visiting of 2 - 8pm. We also have high volume clinics on many days, which increases the burden on parking. You will find that after 5pm or on Friday, Saturday and Sunday the problems are much reduced and spaces available. We thought open visiting may alleviate parking by staggering the demand, however, this does not seem to have been the case. On the plus side, it seems to well received and help patients.

The Head of Clinical Support Services for East Ayrshire, which includes Crosshouse Hospital, has let me know of her intention to take your post to our estates group for Environment and Sustainability. I know she will take all your comments and suggestions to this group for careful consideration.

Again, thank you for raising this important issue with us, it certainly matters to us all.

best wishes,

Eunice

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Update posted by diddle doddle (a relative)

Thanks Eunice.

I knew there was a big elephant somewhere in the room.

The wardens would certainly help by putting a stop to people parking on turning heads and on footpaths - really quite inconsiderate of them - but I guess they do it out of desperation.

Hope to hear some feedback from the Head of Clinical Support.

Best regards

Diddle Doddle

Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 6 years ago
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 13/12/2017 at 17:57
Published on Care Opinion at 18:12

picture of Eunice Goodwin

Hi Diddle Doddle,

I have also passed your post to the Assistant Director and the Director for this area, I look forward to updating you on any response to the issue as a result of this being raised at the estates group for Environment and Sustainability.

Than you again for your posts,

EuniceImage title

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Update posted by diddle doddle (a relative)

Thanks Eunice for keeping me updated.

Diddle Doddle

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