To think hospital parking should be for staff and patients only?

[NoHolidaysforyou]

I'm not sure if I am being unreasonable but our local hospital seems to never have parking available during appointment times (even with charges). When I was pregnant I remember whole families going in (aunts and uncles included) to see an ultrasound... Surely visitors are taking necessary limited parking spaces from patients and staff? So... AIBU to think hospital parking should be for staff and patients only? Visitors (unless they have a blue badge) could probably take public transport or walk a bit to get to the hospital. I don't think it's fair to stress patients or direct partners or parents of patients trying to get the patient to see a doctor.

[NoHolidaysforyou]

@Sirzy I'm not saying there should be no visitors, but maybe people transporting patients should get parking validated and visitors should park at the satellite parking area? If I was a visitor that wasn't bringing a patient, I don't see why I should get a parking space right next to the hospital when there is limited parking. I think most people would agree that someone driving their dying grandparent to an appointment, should have more priority than a relative just visiting the same grandparent?

[LadyRannaldini]

Actually park and ride is an excellent idea Sirzy!

In Norwich at least one of the P and R routes is through the hospital, I used it recently and it's excellent. The problem is that the P and R only runs until early evening so evening visitors can't use it but at least it's a step in the right direction.

[Pinkyyy]

First of all, there is no public transport available to me. Secondly I wouldn't use it if there was, I spend a lot of money to drive for a reason.

[Winnietp]

No, you’re being unreasonable. Went to visit my terminal friend in hospital before she died- not knowing how long she had left or if I would even make it in time. I am going to use the car park ffs.

[SleepingStandingUp]

Parent with child in intensive care would also be considered a patient for parking purposes imo but how do you prove it? What happens if you forget your pass? Or your family rush up to the hospital to see you 24 hour old baby be christened whilst there's time. You think they should all wait around for buses which could take hours??

I was perfectly healthy enough to walk a little bit good for you. And the wife who's 96, so not very firm on her feet but doesn't have a blue badge so relies on her son to part and escort her?

See I get your point, and I get you'd make exceptions, but how exactly would this be implemented and policed? How do you cover ever eventuality when it's reasonable to park there?

[TixieLix]

My dad spent a long time in hospital when he was dying of pancreatic cancer. I was trying to work full time as well as visit him as much as possible. Added to that I would be transporting my mum as/when I could. If I'd had to take public transport it would have added unnecessary length to my already long and stressful journey, and when I came out late - tired and emotional - the last thing I'd have wanted to do was wait around for two different buses to get home again.

[GCAcademic]

Hospitals generally make a profit from their car parks, so they would be wise to make them big enough to cater for visitors, out patients and staff.

Often they are not allowed to. The parking situation at the hospitals in Oxford is dire, but the council won't allow more parking spaces to be built. Part of it is about keeping heavy traffic away from the site.

www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/15093592.more-hospital-parking-blocked-by-council-due-to-traffic-fears/

[MissDollyMix]

YABVU. When DH was critically ill in ICU and I didn't know if he was going to pull through, I was juggling two small children single-handed, trying to find suitable, non-disruptive care for them, whilst also spend as much time at the hospital as possible, no, travelling in by public transport (which would have required two changes of bus and a journey of over an hour - not on a Sunday though when no buses from our village run) would not have been at the top of my list. That was the hardest time of my life and I was so grateful for every little thing that made my life a tiny bit easier at that time. Conversely I was pregnant and used to have regular appointments at the hospital it was much easier to plan my life around, so it was when I was a patient, not a visitor that my need for hospital parking was much less important.

[yabadabadontdoit]

Ok just looked this up. Walk to nearest bus stop 25min. Bus to city 30-50 min depending on traffic. Walk to next bus stop 15min. Bus to city we actually use he hospital at from our GP 1 hr, bus from city to hospital 15min. So minimum 2hr, and that would be good traffic and the hourly bus coming the minute you got to bus stop. Dread to think how much it would cost as long distances. OR drive 25min to hospital, pay £2.80 to park.

[NoHolidaysforyou]

Hmm... Maybe I worded this wrong.

When I say public transport, I would also include a shuttle with that. So if you had a multi storey car park in the same city at another location you could get a shuttle to the hospital as a visitor. If you are immediate family and someone responsible for making decisions on the patient's behalf (you would also be considered the patient for parking purposes), then I think your parking should be free/validated and you should be given a pass, then also a replacement pass if you lose it.

[Alsohuman]

Our hospital serves a rural area and is a good 20 minute walk at a salt pace from the town centre. So an elderly visitor would need to get a bus from an outlying village then face a lengthy walk, same in reverse to go home. Not everyone’s young and fit, OP.

Visitors are a life line to anyone in hospital for any length of time. Anything that discourages them is a bad thing.

[yabadabadontdoit]

I do agree in theory but no way it works in practise.

[AlexaAmbidextra]

It isn’t the hospitals that make the decision as to how much parking they should have. You will find that as local councils get more and more obsessed by green policies they are refusing planning permission for the number of spaces that hospitals need. My local hospital wanted to turn some waste land into 56 parking spaces. The local council would give permission for only 18 extra spaces but to get this the hospital had to agree to build a bike shed for 30 bikes. I regularly see just two or three bikes in the shed. This is a hospital that serves a large area much of which is rural. Patients are not going to cycle to appointments neither are many staff able to cycle 20 miles to work on unlit country roads, often at unsocial hours.

[ChloePenny]

Visitors (unless they have a blue badge) could probably take public transport or walk a bit to get to the hospital
Ah what a simplistic view. Buses in my area to the nearest city where the hospital is run twice daily- one in the early morning and the other around rush hour. From my house to the bus stop, it’s a 20 minute walk.

[Sirzy]

I think your very much over simplifying things though. Some patients who are attending for outpatients appointments will be in a much better position to park and ride/walk than some Visitors.

Some visitors will be doing the trip every day for weeks so that added hassle of then not being able to park at the hospital would make a tough time even tougher.

Most hospitals need to look at the parking and the solutions will vary from location to location but as a rule trying to create a parking hierarchy will never work

[Alsohuman]

You really don’t understand how under resourced the NHS is, do you, OP? Your bright ideas would have staffing implications that couldn’t be justified. And free parking would cost ££££.

[BollocksToBrexit]

So when I went to hospital in the middle of the night to sit with my family as my sister died I should have taken the train, the underground and then 2 buses there and back again after she passed. But someone attending a regular ante-natal appointment at their local hospital should be allowed to park?

Yes YABU and a bit of an insensitive nobber.

[Winnietp]

Routine appointments are easier to get to than visiting a sick/ dying friend or relative!!

[NoHolidaysforyou]

Free parking wouldn't exploit the sick though, and the resource issues will be there regardless if parking is an inconvenience or not. The issue of resource is separate and another solution for that should be found (increased tax, a separate tax, or some other source of funding).

[ItsAllGone19]

YABU...I thought you'd be complaining about the people who abuse hospital parking to then work elsewhere/go shopping.

Visitors have just as much right to park as anyone else in a hospital car park. Public transport just isn't up to the job unless you live in London or maybe one of the bigger English cities but even here in Cardiff my suburb ceases to be served by buses after 6pm and the hospital isn't close enough to a train station to make it a viable option for most visitors.

Our local hospital has introduced park and ride which has helped massively for staff, outpatients and visitors. It's still not perfect but at least the hospital trust are trying their best to come up with a workable solution.

[wonkylegs]

You need staff parking on site as my DH does his on calls from home and needs to be in work within 20mins of a bleep - not doable on public transport and if you expect all drs to live within 20mins your going to have a shortage of drs willing to do oncalls in many hospitals.
I think you'll fine the vast majority of parking is patients and staff, it's easy to underestimate how many people go through a hospital everyday especially big regional centres. I've been a regular outpatient at my hospital for 20years now and parking actually hasn't changed much in that time. It's always been crap to find a space - they have got better at administration by installing pay when you leave rather than pay and display machines. I have to drive because I have limited mobility and I live 40 miles away.
I know to leave plenty of time for parking and expect appointments to over run. Going to the hospital is never a quick thing.

Some city centre hospitals do suffer from people who aren't even coming into the hospital parking there but they are also the ones best served by public transport. To be fair some patients could just as easily be served by public transport - why do you need a car when you go for your first pregnancy scan? The problem is people don't use common sense they often just take the easiest route.

[lipslovelylips]

You are seriously too invested in this issue. Your proposed plans are crazy and more trouble than they would be worth. Who are you to decide who is more 'worthy' of a parking space? What about visitors who may be ill or old or infirm themselves? Crazy.

[Sooverthemill]

My daughter was in hospital for 7 months in a hospital 2 hours from our home. We live in a rural area with extremely limited public transport. Any visitors had to use cars to get there as public transport was impossible except for those coming from a city/ town with a train station. Your version of reality would have condemned her to no visitors

[lipslovelylips]

I think you are also being deliberately goady. How much would it cost to administer this supposed system? Get a hobby.

[listsandbudgets]

I think it could be partially implemented at least pretty easily these days at least in the larger hospitals.

There tend already to be car parks reserved for staff.

Hospital appointments usually include a barcode - if there were appointment only car parks surely its not beyond the wit of (wo)man for these to be scanned by a reader on the barrier?

There would need to be open access car parks though for visitors, pickups and also emergency attendance.

A scheme like that would only really work in big hospitals with a lot of space. These hospitals also tend to have good public transport links which tends to take off some of the pressure. Smaller hospitals it would be really difficult to implement in because it would be harder to allocate seperate car parks for diffent purposes.