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Parking at St. John’s Hospital

Posted By Grumpy mummy

"Parking at St. John’s Hospital"

About: St John's Hospital St John's Hospital / Maternity care

(as a service user),

I had an appointment with an obstetrician as I am 8 months pregnant and had some complications with my last pregnancy. I circled around the car park a few times but there was no space at all. There were actually cars parked blocking other cars and parked on double yellow lines and in spaces that were not parking spaces. There was very little chance of getting a space so I started to panic. I didn’t want to miss my appointment but I didn’t know the area enough to know if there was somewhere close to park. I noticed a Coop near the hospital and with no other options decided to park there. I noticed that there was a limit of 1 hour parking but I knew my appointment shouldn’t be long so decided to park there. I didn’t really have any other options as there were no other areas that I could see to park near the hospital and I didn’t really have time to start driving further away and try to waddle back in time for my appointment. However, there was a huge delay with appointments when I got there and despite my actual appointment only taking about 15mins I ended up having to wait about 60mins before I was even seen. I therefore ended up parked at the Coop for 1 hour and 32 mins. I know this precise time because I was then issued with a £100 fine for parking there. I had to get to my appointment but due to inadequate parking facilities it cost me £100!  

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Responses

Response from Frances McGuire, Chief Midwife, NHS Lothian 6 years ago
Frances McGuire
Chief Midwife,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 01/06/2018 at 17:29
Published on Care Opinion on 04/06/2018 at 12:29

Good morning.

I am so sorry that you have had a very stressful afternoon and that the late running of the antenatal clinic contributed to your anxiety about parking.

The parking at St John's is very busy especially in the afternoon when there is an increased number of people using the car park when visiting family or friends who are inpatients.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Grumpy mummy (a service user)

I didn’t choose the time of my appointment. Maybe busy visiting times need to be taken into account when arranging appointments for out patients. I think parking in general needs to be rethought at St John’s, one car park is clearly not enough for all the patients and their visitors. There are plenty of notices criticising patients for missing appointments, maybe it’s because they couldn’t find anywhere to park and didn’t fancy having to pay £100 like I did!

Now I’m panicking about what I will do when I go into labour, what if it happens to coincide with visiting times? Will my partner have to drop me off and let me head in by myself while they circle around trying to park?

Response from Patient Experience Team, NHS Lothian 6 years ago
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 06/06/2018 at 16:36
Published on Care Opinion on 07/06/2018 at 15:05

Good morning,

I am really sorry to read of the difficulties you have experienced and would like to apologise for the upset that this has caused for you. Thank you very much for taking the time to contact us through Care Opinion regarding your concerns about having difficulty parking when visiting St. John’s for your ante-natal appointment. The patient & visitor experience whilst attending the Hospital is important to NHS Lothian and we endeavour to ensure that this is a positive one.

I have shared all of your feedback with the Area Manager for the St. John’s Hospital site, and I have been asked to reassure you that when you come in to have your baby, your partner will get access to the car parking area at the maternity entrance; that alternative facilities for advice are available by making use of the patient drive through helpline. This is situated outside OPD 1 or via intercoms at each barrier.

I have been advised that the following changes to the on-site parking have been made to help ensure that the patient/visitor experience on site improves in the long term. Changes have been made to; 'Car Park P' (the main car park) which reverted to a patient/visitor car park. 'Car Park A' became a staff car park with a number of spaces allocated for Tripshare, and spaces remain available for Blue Badge Holders.

There are signs on entering the site advising of the above changes, and an automatic number plate recognition system was introduced at Car Park P as part of the changes; this is so we can speak to staff members who are currently continuing to park in Car Park P as this makes it more difficult for patients and visitors to find a parking space. Car Park P is the dedicated patient/visitor car park, and the Traffic Management Team continues to communicate with staff regarding this. The barriers to Car Park B are lifted at 2.45 each afternoon to help support visitors coming on site. The car parking staff are working hard to patrol the areas to advise patients and visitors of the alternatives available, and moving forward our Area Manager is hopeful that the changes will support patients and visitors attending the site.

I would like to apologise again and please do contact our Patient Experience Team if you would like to discuss this on the telephone 0131 536 3370 if we can be of further help. Alternatively you can email our team directly at feedback@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Very best wishes to you in the meantime.

Pamela

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