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Getting to QMC by tram

Story from nhs.uk

"Getting to QMC by tram"

About: Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust - Queen's Medical Centre Campus

Arrived today by tram from Hucknall to be greeted by a salt gritted surface which would have been handy if it was icy. The lift took us down to what I would describe as 'where are we, no man's land?'. After pressing the information button I was greeted by a very friendly person who worked for the tram, but didn't know anything about the hospital entrances.

There was a part built bridge not connecting the tram to the building with 'do not enter' signage before we took the lift down. Now if the bridge was finished and did actually link to the building that would have been a welcome we would have expected at the hospital. But no, the signage to the 'entrances' along with a Medilink bus stop was found near the lift and .we walked in the rain around the building to ENT where we entered and followed signs to reception.

On exiting the lifts after visiting ward F20 which told us inside it to follow signs for the tram we saw no signage at all and I asked a kind staff member the quickest way back to the tram. We exited West wing and walked aroun the building, through a car park and up in the lift- a quicker, but not official route!

How disappointed we were after such an easy journey on the tram to not find the logistics in place at the hospital.

Obviously the management of the hospital need to put patient care first, but this was ridiculous.

Maybe volunteers should be posted at the tram or tram staff trained on logistics of the hospital. Fair enough a map f the hospital was at the tram stop but visitors need a list of where wards and departments are.

Kings Mill have a colour scheme route on floors to show which route to take where and it works.

Suggest QMC management have a meeting to sort out the tram to QMC enrtrancer poblem after all we are encouraged to use public transport and we will as the parking at the hospital is horrendous, but that is another story...

Disgruntled visitor on a Sunday in winter!

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Response from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust - Queen's Medical Centre Campus 8 years ago
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust - Queen's Medical Centre Campus

Submitted on 14/12/2015 at 12:09
Published on nhs.uk on 15/12/2015 at 01:30

Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry to hear that you found it difficult to navigate your way around QMC around QMC when arriving by tram.

With regards to direct access from the tram platform to QMC, many people have understandably asked us, as you have, why we are not presently using the link bridge which connects the platform with south block routinely as an access route into the hospital. This bridge was built to give additional service access to the tram platform and unfortunately the infrastructure isn’t fit for routine use – it would not stand up well to footfall from the number of passengers getting off the tram each day (often over 1000), not to mention the noise that large numbers of people walking along it would create for nearby healthcare of the elderly wards.

We readily accept that the absence of a dedicated tram entrance into QMC is far from ideal. Our intention ultimately is that there will be an entrance built to QMC from the tram stop which is fit for purpose. We would all have liked this to be in place from day one. However, the reality is we needed access to the land where the tram works were being completed to start the new entrance development – and trying to complete two major construction projects simultaneously on the same land just wasn’t possible.

Options are being developed for an entrance that would allow direct access from the tram stop into the hospital. In the meantime we continue to work with our patients and volunteers to ensure those arriving at the Trust are able to access the hospital as easily as possible. Unfortunately, our volunteers work Monday-Friday only.

We have placed signs in the lifts and on walls and floors throughout the QMC building directing people to both the Medilink and tram stops and to enhance pre-existing wayfinding methods (such as colour-coded walls and trails on the floor).

We also have more information about finding your way from the tram platform into the hospital and vice versa on our website (including animated video guides) here: http://www.nuh.nhs.uk/getting-here/qmc-and-our-emergency-department/travelling-by-tram-we're-ready/wayfinding-maps/, and we also include this information in patient appointment letters.

We are working very closely with patients on an ongoing basis to make signage and wayfinding improvements in response to the feedback we are proactively collecting from a range of sources. If you would like to work with us on this, please get in touch with me directly on 0115 924 9924 ext 62001 or by email to andrew.steggles@nuh.nhs.uk.

Kind regards, Andrew Steggles, Patient experience officer

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