"Car parking is a nightmare"

Please accept my sincere apologies that you have had this poor experience during a visit to one of our hospitals. I imagine it must have been extremely stressful and worrying time for both you and your brother. A clinic that is running late can be very frustrating and I appreciate this can only have added to the stress you were both experiencing that day. We do provide a white board to share news of expected delays with patients and families. I am sorry that we failed to use it to keep you informed on this occasion. I will share this with the team involved and explain the impact that this had on you. I can fully understand that you would not have wanted to leave your brothers side after receiving such a serious diagnosis. Just to share that we do have the option of paying on departure as you describe. We made the decision to advise people to make payment when they arrive and then top up with any extra before they leave so that they don’t forget their time of arrival or indeed forget to pay at all, however you are covered as long as you make payment before midnight on the day of your visit. I have included the link to information about the parking system for any future visits in the hope this is helpful. Please visit www.northumbria.nhs.uk/parking. With thanks again for your feedback and very best wishes for your brother and his continued health, Annie Annie Laverty - Director of Patient experience. P.S. I just wanted to add a short note to explain and apologise for the delay in getting my response back to you. Last friday evening I completed all outstanding replies and submitted these on the NHS choices website. unfortunately for reasons that we have yet to understand these have not been accepted by their moderation team. I know they are currently looking into why my responses have not been recorded in their system. It is unfortunate and frustrating at this end because I am committed to providing early replies to patients and families - I feel it is the least I can do when people take the time to get in touch to give us valuable feedback that enables us to improve care. I am sorry that technical difficulties with the website have prevented me from doing this.

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Just to update you on the outcome of this. The Trust has made an important change and reached an agreement which will result in the termination of the management contract with Parking Eye on all Northumbria premises.

I hope this provides you with some assurance of our determination to listen and respond to the needs of our patients and the local people we serve.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention.

With all best wishes,

Annie