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Disable Parking Fiasco

Story from nhs.uk

"Disable Parking Fiasco"

About: Wansbeck Hospital

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Following the emergency admittance of my Father in Law on the 21st August 2013, I and my wife visited Wansbeck on the evening of the 22nd. Due to my wifes disability I accessed the Northumbria NHS Website to check the availability of Disabled Parking. Directly resulting from this I registered both my car and that of my wife on the website in line with 'Parking Eye' directions. All is well, I thought!! I can get my disable wife to see her sick father. Oh was I to be proved wrong. Our visit was uneventfull, sadly returning again on the 25th Aug after a second emergency admission, but using the same parking protocols, vehicle having already been registered, valid disable badge displayed, diligently parked in an official disable bay. 3rd Sept 2013 guess what arrived through the post, a Parking Charge Notice demanding £70 for ' not purchasing the appropriate parking time or by remaining at the car park for longer than permitted' on the 22nd Aug. Disable Parking is free not £70 for 1 hour and 5 minutes. My amazement was very quickly replaced with anger. Being a dilligent person, I registered the vehicle via the appropriate website, I displayed a valid Disable Badge, parked in a designated bay, what more am i meant to do! Sadly my Father in Laws condition continues to deteriorate. I would envisage further visits to Wansbeck, and further hassle and unacceptable charging by what is obviously highway robbery conducted through a floored system. There is nothing like kicking people when they are vulnerable, come on Wansbeck, get your act together. Oh by the way guidance on your website says either; register your vehicle in advance by either completing the registration form on the website or by telephoning Parking Eye, I did and still recieved a Parking Charge Notice, alternatively inform the Hospital Reception, somewhat difficult when it's not staffed 24/7. I wait the final insult, the second Parking Charge Notice for the 25th Aug 2013! Don't get me started about the treatment of my father in law who has relatively advanced Alzheimers, a condition that you would have thought the NHS would know how to manage, sadly not. Wansbeck, you failed again !

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Responses

Response from Wansbeck Hospital 10 years ago
Wansbeck Hospital

Submitted on 05/09/2013 at 16:13
Published on nhs.uk on 06/09/2013 at 04:00

Dear Sir I was really concerned and sorry to read about your experience of your father-in-laws care at Wansbeck Hospital, as well as the new car parking system. I can appreciate how frustrated you must feel after receiving a parking fine. I understand that after following the protocol for registering both of your vehicles you feel angry. With regard to your father-in-laws care, it is very difficult to provide you with an appropriate response due to the anonymous nature of your review. We would be really like to help you and listen to your concerns, please contact our Director Patient Experience, Annie Laverty on 07876502899. It is not in our interest that any of our patients have a poor experience of parking and we would help to help you resolve the matter. I have forwarded your comments on to our Director of Estates, Steven Bannister and he would like to help. To enable us to do this we will need some of your details. Please contact me by email at: Joanne.mackintosh@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk. I will make sure that Steven receives your details, so we can investigate this situation further and hopefully get a resolution as soon as possible. I hope this is helpful to you both. Best Wishes Jo Jo Mackintosh – Patient Experience Team

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Response from Annie Laverty, Chief Experience Officer, Patient Experience, Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT 10 years ago
We have made a change
Annie Laverty
Chief Experience Officer, Patient Experience,
Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT

Submitted on 04/04/2014 at 22:20
Published on Care Opinion on 07/04/2014 at 09:19

picture of Annie Laverty

Dear Sir,

Just to update you that 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

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