Care Opinion

Horrendous parking situation at East Surrey...

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"Horrendous parking situation at East Surrey..."

About: East Surrey Hospital

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I took a friend with a broken ankle to an outpatients appointment last Monday (18/3/13). I dropped her off at the main entrance as she obviosly has serious mobility issues and went to park the car

*I spent 10 minutes queuing at the car park to get in

*I drove through the car park only to fing there were no spaces

*the chap on the gate advised me to park in the golf club car park

*waited there a furthr 10 minutes

*finally parked only to have a man shout at me because he wrongly felt he had been waiting longer than me

*the parking slots were so tight I was unable to open the door sufficielty to get my friend's walking canes and frame out of the car.

*finally joined my friend 45 minutes later - number of cars waiting to park was 42!!!

*after the appointment, there was no where to park near the part of the hospital to drop off walking frames/canes so I had to again drop my friend off at the appropriate entrance and watch her hobble to the hospital carrying her walking sticks and frame while I drove around keeping an eye out for when she emaerged.

Tjhe whole experience was unbelievably stressful. Not only for the dreadfully insufficient number of parking spaces but also the fact that there were no members of management out helping people and advising them of where to park.

People are by the very nature of the visit will be suffering stress - to have to go through the ordeal of parking there as well is totally unacceptable.

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Responses

Response from Philip Stone, Head of Medical Records., Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 11 years ago
Philip Stone
Head of Medical Records.,
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

Submitted on 02/04/2013 at 14:11
Published on Care Opinion at 15:17

Dear Mrs Mullett

Thank you for taking the time to post your comments regarding car parking at East Surrey Hospital. As the Manager responsible for car parking, I share your concerns and understand the frustration you have expressed. Unfortunately, as you may be aware, we have had to reduce our visiting times to protect our patients from the countrywide outbreaks of Norovirus. Although this has been very successful in limiting outbreaks within the hospital, it has made parking during these periods difficult. Our car parking attendants do try to assist during these busy periods by identifying empty spaces as they become available. This helps keep queues to a minimum but unfortunately during peak times some queuing may be necessary before a space becomes available.

With regard to Norovirus things are improving daily at a national level and we are reviewing our visiting times regularly. We hope in the very near future when we are fully assured that it is the right thing to do for patient care, that we will be able to lift our restrictions.

Additionally we have recently applied for planning permission to build additional car parking spaces and if our application is successful this should alleviate future congestion.

Thank you once again for taking the time to post your comments, if you would like to discuss this further please feel free to contact me at the email address below.

Best Regards

Phil

Philip J Stone

Acting Head of Logistics

philip.stone@sash.nhs.uk

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Response from Philip Stone, Head of Medical Records., Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 11 years ago
We have made a change
Philip Stone
Head of Medical Records.,
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

Submitted on 05/04/2013 at 14:30
Published on Care Opinion at 14:39

Further to my previous post above:

Restrictions with regard to visiting hours have now been lifted and all wards have returned to their normal visiting times.

Please see our website for more details. http://www.sash.nhs.uk/our-services/wards/

Returning to normal visiting hours allows visitors flexibility in choosing at what time to visit the hospital and this will reduce car park congestion at peak times.

We thank all visitors for their understanding and support over the last couple of months.

Regards

Phil

Philip J Stone

Acting Head of Logistics

philip.stone@sash.nhs.uk

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