"Car parking"

We can only apologise for the difficulty you experienced when trying to park at Wexham Park Hospital. As a Trust we are urgently working to resolve the problem of insufficient visitor parking at Wexham Park. We are very much aware of the enormous stress this can put on patients and visitors when they first arrive at the hospital and improving parking is therefore one of the Trust’s top site priorities. Car parking is a very complex issue for the Trust as both sites suffer from high levels of congestion, which understandably causes frustration. We are working hard to tackle these problems through the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders, which includes the local authorities and transport providers. However we have to work within the constraints of environmental and green targets set by the Government. These include tight planning regulations linked to the Green Belt on which Wexham Park Hospital sits, which makes the Trust unable to expand the Wexham Park Hospital site boundaries. We are looking at a number of options we can implement to improve parking for visitors. On 11th November 2013 we increased the number of visitor parking bays by 78 spaces, which is now helping to reduce stress for patients and visitors trying to find a parking space. We also have two dedicated Car Park Attendants working to assist and direct visitors and patients in the car parks, which we hope in many situations is helping with reduce visitor anxieties. As a Trust we are putting together a Development Plan, which aims to improve visitor and staff parking in the long term. This will look at increasing the car park capacity as well as improving the car park layout. All development; short-term and long-term is linked tightly with the Trust’s Green Travel Plan, which was first introduced in 2011. This saw the introduction of a direct bus service to the hospital running every 15/ 20 minutes to the bus station in central Slough. We actively promote this in an effort to encourage car users who live more locally to perhaps consider if they can change the way they travel to the hospital. We have recetnly improved the notices and signs across the hospital site, so that parking is as clear as possible, and will work to improve the information and advice provided to patients and visitors about parking and travelling to the Trust’s sites. Improving parking for visitors and patients is one of the Trust’s top priorities, and we will continue to work towards this aim.