"Hospital managers please take note"

I am a consultant psychiatrist working in a secure unit and occasionally visit Stepping Hill to visit patients referred to my service. On the last three occasions I have driven round and round the site, unable to find a parking space, wasting up to half an hour of my valuable time. There is no parking in the surrounding streets. On one occasion one of the car parks was empty but the entrance was blocked by a traffic cone!

My experience in the Cobden Unit was grimy and unpleasant. The toilets in particular were in poor condition, I saw no soap, hand gel or towels. I feel sorry for the poor patients who have to live there: how can they be expected to recover in such a depressing and impoverished environment?

The fact that there are more administrative staff than hospital beds in the NHS begs the question: what do all these administrators do?

This is a pity, because I have met some wonderful clinical staff during my visits to SHH, who give so much to try to make the service work.

I feel sure these difficulties could be overcome if there were a will to do so.