Care Opinion

Changing to pay and display car parking

Posted By sculptornc33

"Changing to pay and display car parking"

About: Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske)

(as a parent/guardian),

I've seen this weekend that Treliske hospital, in Truro, is currently changing the way you pay for parking and rather than it being a much needed improvement, it changes it for the worse.  

You used to pay for parking calculated on exit; however from now on you have to pay as you park using the new pay and display machines. Then, if you unsurprisingly underestimated how long you were going to be in A&E,  or the time for a relatives operation to finish or helping your relative on a ward; you then have to remember and run back out to the car park and add more time.  
How can anyone say that leaving your relative in A&E or on a trolley in a corridor in pain and in distress; or abandoning them in a ward whilst helping them feed themselves to run back outside and put more time on your car is an improvement? 
I feel this is money making via fines or just a very bad policy decision?
This is badly thought through, adds further distress to an already stressful situation and is probably going to prove to be unpopular and a huge mistake. 
Imagine arriving at midnight with your child in your arms, you park and run into A&E, forgetting to put a car park ticket on the car. You finally leave the hospital many hours later, knowing that your child is in a ward by themselves only to find a fine is stuck to your car windscreen.
I love the NHS, I've used it a lot; the staff are all wonderful people, but how have they got this so badly wrong?
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Responses

Response from Jess Saunders, Patient Engagement and Feedback Coordinator, Patient + Family Experience Team, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust nearly 2 years ago
Jess Saunders
Patient Engagement and Feedback Coordinator, Patient + Family Experience Team,
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 11/10/2022 at 08:45
Published on Care Opinion at 08:45

picture of Jess Saunders

Dear sculptornc33,

Thank you for taking the time to share your story with us. I can understand your worries and frustration around car parking, as this indeed would affect our patient and visitor experience when coming into our hospital. I would like to assure you that this is a temporary measure while our new contractor, Saba, is installing their automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology in our car parks to improve the facility and have a more streamlined service for the car parks across the Trust. With the addition on the ANPR systems, the Trust is hoping to achieve making the process a lot easier for our service users by offering both a pay and display option at the pay on foot machines or a pay on exit option at the barriers.

I have spoken with our Facilities Managers this morning who are in charge of overseeing the new contract with Saba, they have said that the works to the ANPR systems will be finished this week and they have also confirmed that no fines or warnings have been given during this period where the works to the system are taking place.

I hope this information goes some way to reassuring you that this is just a temporary measure while our new contractors improve our parking systems.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your story with us.

Best wishes,

Jess

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Update posted by sculptornc33 (a parent/guardian)

Thank you Jess for your reply.

I've been at the hospital every day since the temporary pay and display machines were installed and I've had to help 7 elderly visitors who couldn't use the machines and were stressing out. I stopped another couple who I heard say that they pay on exit and told them it was a pay and display. The instructions are not good enough for the elderly and people in a rush and stressed.

As an aside to the future use of the new ANPR based system, I hope that you will consider taking advantage of the new technology to address the discounting for regular visitors of in-patients and OAPs etc.

I fully understand that you need to charge something for parking, to stop shoppers using the hospital car park and others, but technology can help you to provide a more effective service.

Best regards

Response from Jess Saunders, Patient Engagement and Feedback Coordinator, Patient + Family Experience Team, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust nearly 2 years ago
Jess Saunders
Patient Engagement and Feedback Coordinator, Patient + Family Experience Team,
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 13/10/2022 at 10:44
Published on Care Opinion at 10:44

picture of Jess Saunders

Dear sculptornc33,

Thank you for letting me know about your further experiences. I will ensure this is fed back to both the Trust Facilities Managers and to the new contractors from Saba.

Best wishes,

Jess

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