"PALS and Parking at Newsam Centre, Seacroft..."

Anything else?

The reception area isn’t patient friendly: Patients arriving at the Newsam Centre could be made to feel more welcome by the receptionists than they are at the present time. The physical appearance and lay out of the reception desk/area itself could be more user friendly without incurring any expenditure. The PALS is inaccessible for out patients: Unlike other hospitals, there is no PALS on the Seacroft Hospital site. Access to the PALS service is by telephone only. No public telephone is available with which to ring PALS. Often a patient wishes to ask advice from PALS only. Speaking face to face with the PALS service is much better than attempting to telephone and then making an appointment to see them in person. This is especially so if the patient is not a local and has travelled a long way to attend a tertiary NHS service for an out patient appointment. Under the current PALS this is not feasible. Furthermore, there are no leaflets available explaining what the PALS service is and what it provides. Car parking for patients could be improved: The Newsam Centre should have a designated patients car park for the outpatients that are seen there. Patients attending the Newsam Centre have to purchase a ticket at the Seacroft Hospital main front car park. Usually there are no free spaces in the car parks adjacent to the Newsam Centre (which are labelled for staff and visitors and are usually full during the day). The footpaths between the Main car park and the Newsam centre are unsafe: If the patient has parked in the main car park they have to walk a considerable distance all the way round from the main hospital car park (that always has spaces) to get to the Newsam Centre. The footpaths are inadequate and in some places non-existent. In contrast, staff can just walk a few yards to work from their staff and visitors car parks. Providing a patient designated car park, perhaps by simple reallocation of staff spaces, would be a good example of putting patients first and would make patients feel welcome and feel more at ease when they come to see a doctor or medical carer for their appointment at the centre.