"Our first visit to Derby hospital - good and bad"

This is the story of a first visit to Derby hospital as we do not live in the area and was referred to this hospital for a specific treatment. My mother, who is 84, was visiting  the hospital to have a monitor fitted to investigate some problems she has been having with leaky heart valves. Being her son, I was her driver and escort for the day.

The good - the organisation of the hospital was first class. We were met at the front door by a volunteer who saw our paperwork and guided us clearly to the area that we were visiting today. As we walked through the hospital, we both commented on how light and fresh the hospital looked and how spotlessly clean throughout. The receptionist at the heart monitor section was very friendly and helpful and immediately put my Mom at ease and asked us politely to just take a seat. Within 5 mins my Mom was called in and came out only ten minutes later - job done! All in all a very pleasant and stress free visit all round.The bad - the major concern here is the signage (or should I say lack of it), to the hospital. All of the hospitals I have ever visited always seem to have clear signs from quite a distance out as to how to get to them. From what I could see, the only sign to Derby hospital was the one immediately outside the main entrance! This is particularly bad as I specified we were not from the area and had no idea which exit to come off  the A38 (luckily I guessed correctly through recognising the previous exit's destinations). Then approaching the first traffic island, approx 200 yards from the main entrance again no signs! Why oh why is such an important facility not signed clearly from a major road? My only other minor 'gripe' is that parking charges did seem excessive compared with what we normally pay in North Warwickshire. So all in all, excellent service within the hospital only marred by a lack of care outside.