Care Opinion

Boston Pilgrim Hospital - Parking Problems

Posted By lalauk

"Boston Pilgrim Hospital - Parking Problems"

About: Pilgrim Hospital / Ophthalmology

(as a relative),

Took my mother in law for her appointment at this hospital. Allowed an hour to get there from Spalding. On arrival parking chaos. The main car parks were full. The disabled car parks were full. In the disabled car park (where I would have liked to have parked as my mother in law is registered disabled), I had to engage the services of the security guard to move-on two cars. The drivers refused to move until a space became available and were therefore blocking the route into the car park and the exit out.

As my mother in law was having drops in her eyes I was supposed to accompany her. In the end she went in on her own and I had to continue searching for a space. I found one in the staff car park and was informed that I could get a £30 fine if caught.

I spoke to staff at the hospital who said that the parking is a constant problem with drivers fighting physically over spaces on a regular basis. I also met an elderly disabled couple who said that if they can't get parked, they have to return home without attending their appointments.

Others in the waiting room agreed with them that this is something that happens. I was truly distressed to the point of tears as I could not be with my mother in law when she needed me because of a lack of parking. If this is my story, how many others are distressed like me? How would you like to turn up because of an emergency only to find out that you cannot get to your loved one because of a lack of parking spaces?

All the staff and patients I spoke to were in agreement. Parking needs to be addressed at this hospital. I have also spoken to the Chief Executive's PA regarding my experience in the hope that someone will look into it.

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Responses

Response from Jennie Negus, Head of Patient Experience, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust 11 years ago
Jennie Negus
Head of Patient Experience,
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 24/11/2013 at 16:49
Published on Care Opinion on 25/11/2013 at 19:41

picture of Jennie Negus

Dear Lalauk - I am very sorry - your posting was hard to read as it so vividly told of the human impact of something so practical as a parking space.

I have passed this onto the estates lead at Pilgrim and hope to come back to you soon with a more detailed response. If you wish you could contact me directly at: jennie.negus@ulh.nhs.uk and I can then feedback to you personally too.

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Response from Jennie Negus, Head of Patient Experience, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust 11 years ago
Jennie Negus
Head of Patient Experience,
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 12/12/2013 at 15:51
Published on Care Opinion at 21:55

picture of Jennie Negus

Thank you for getting in touch with me directly; sorry I didn’t reply sooner but I have been on leave.

I asked our Facilities Manager, Clive Marriott to comment on the issues you raised and he has asked me to add the following:

We are sorry to hear that Parking at Pilgrim hospital hasn’t met you expectations.

We do review parking on a regular basis at all our hospitals.

The trust has invested £400,000 in additional car parking facilities at Pilgrim Hospital creating over 200 additional spaces over the last year, a further initiative is underway for another 50 spaces, this work is under way and will be completed shortly.

We have also recently introduced a cycle to work scheme for staff which has been welcomed and we hope this will further increase the spaces available to patients,visitors and staff. We are pleased however that a member of the security team was able to provide you with support.

Your idea about a park and ride sounds good but I suspect that as there are a number of buses that already serve the hospital this may well prove difficult to achieve; I copied Clive into my e-mail to you so that he could keep you informed about any possible further provision of more disabled / drop off spaces when the additional 50 spaces are created whether we could allocate more disabled.

In terms of your next visit with your mother-in-law; if you are struggling on the day then please call: 01205 44 6243 or 6244 and one of the PALS team could come and help sort things out for you there and then

.

I hope this helps / gives you some reassurance that we acknowledge this is a real issue that has an impact on people’s appointments and experience and will continue to do all we can to resolve it.

Thank you again.

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