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Story from nhs.uk

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About: The Princess Royal Hospital (Telford)

(as the patient),

What I liked

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What could be improved

Parking.

I am a blue badge holder, and need a disabled parking spot to allow me to get my wheelchair beside the car.

I turned up 30 minutes before my appointment to make sure I could get parked. 50 minutes later I managed to get a Disabled space.

I than had staff frown down upon me for being late and said I should have allowed more time. So in future I will need to get there 90 mins before my apt, to make sure i'm not late. And to top it off, the pay machines are not wheelchair accessible, I have to reply on the kindness of strangers to get my ticket, or have to track down an attendant.

Considering i do not attend by choice, & pay my N.I. I shouldn't have to pay for parking. If I do, I at least expect to get a space.

There is plenty of green grass around that could be converted to parking spaces.

I know it's not nice losing open space, but when people are unable to get medical treatment, and there health suffers than I think it's worth the loss.

Please PRH... get the parking sorted, it really is a big let down to your hospital and if it continues the way it is, I will have to make the complaint official.

Parking charges taxing the sick...

The sick don't ask to be sick, and don't have a choice to avoid treatment....

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Responses

Response from The Princess Royal Hospital 15 years ago
The Princess Royal Hospital

Submitted on 21/03/2009 at 09:14
Published on nhs.uk on 24/03/2009 at 04:07

Thank you for your comments about parking at the Princess Royal Hospital.

We are very sorry to hear about your difficulties parking. We do ask staff to advise patients to allow plenty of time to park as we cannot guarantee that car parking will be available at all times. However, on this occasion it sounds as though parking was particularly difficult for you. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this caused.

CAR PARKING CHARGES

In relation to charges, if you are registered disabled then you may be eligible for help with your hospital travel costs. You are automatically entitled to claim through the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme if you (or those you depend on) get at least one of the following:

- Income Support

- Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance

- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

- Guarantee Pension Credit

You may also qualify if your income is £15,050 or less and you also get one of the following:

- Child Tax Credit (with or without Working Tax Credit)

- Working Tax Credit with the disability element or severe disability element

More information is available from online by visiting www.direct.gov.uk and searching for Hospital Travel Costs Scheme, or from the cashiers offices at our hospitals.

CAR PARKING MANAGEMENT

The previous management of the Trust contracted the management of the hospital car parks to an independent company. There are significant financial penalties if the Trust ended that contract. However, the current Trust Chief Executive has committed to reviewing car parking arrangements as soon as it become viable to do so. This commitment was restated in a recent radio phone-in on BBC Radio Shropshire. We welcome feedback such as yours as this will help us to decide how best to provide car parking once the current contract comes to an end.

CAR PARKING SPACES

I regret that there are many restrictions on hospitals being able to extend car parking due to issues such as local planning regulations and whether we own the land (e.g. the Trust does not own all the land neighbouring the hospital). This means that it is not necessarily simple to extend into green spaces, and we can also expect that whilst some people would support turning green areas into car parks there will also be many people who oppose this.

We have recently improved our parking by obtaining planning consent to extend our staff car parking. Providing more car parking for staff means that they are less likely to overflow into public car parling areas.

We are also developing our "Green Transport Plan" which will support alternatives to car parking. Our intention is that this will help to "free up" car parking spaces for the people who need them most.

Thank you again for your feedback.

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