GOOD LUCK MAKING THE #localandproud APPOINTMENT IN TIME!
After failing to find a parking space at the Royal Stoke, Sentinel reporter now fears she’ll get a fine
FLORA BYATT
“WE have an appointment at 11am tomorrow. You need to be here 15 minutes before - can you do that?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” I said. The person on the other end of the phone added: “Are you sure? We can give it to someone else if you can’t make it.”
“It’s fine,” I replied, a little annoyed at the insinuation that I would waste the Royal Stoke University Hospital’s time.
If you’ve had an appointment at the Royal Stoke lately, there’s a lot of emphasis on how much money and time those who miss appointments waste for the NHS.
I’d also been waiting for this appointment for a while, and the last-minute slot felt like a blessing. I wasn’t worried about making it on time. But I should have been. I left my house in Stone at 10.15am.
It usually takes around 20 minutes to make it to Royal Stoke, which would give me plenty of time to park, pay, and make it into the main building.
All went well on the drive, but I was left horrified at the parking situation, as the little clock on my dashboard ticked over to 10.43am.
There was nothing to do. I pulled onto the car park, and joined the queue of 10 to 15 cars as we all helplessly circled the car park like mice in a maze.
I went to free myself from the situation, planning to look for some alternative, but realised three cars had joined the queue behind me.
We did another lap. More cars joined the queue, and despite the lack of spaces, there was another queue of around 10 cars waiting to get off the car park, blocking the through-road.
The clock now said it was 11am. Definitely later than the 15 minutes before I had said I would arrive by.
I lost it. There were double-yellow lines by one of the parking machines, which would still leave space for the cars parked to get out.
I pulled up on the double-yellows, hurriedly bought a ticket and slapped it on the windscreen.
The thing is, people have to pay in advance for their tickets – but appointments often run behind, and you rarely know exactly how long you’ll be.
Surely you should just pay on exit so you don’t end up paying for time you might not need?
On that subject, why pay for parking at a hospital full stop? It’s not like you have so much of a choice in whether you attend.
I decided to worry about parking changes and the potential fine I would get for parking on double-yellows later. I realised my actions were questionable, but I felt out of options – and at this point, very stressed.
As I speed-walked to the main building, I passed multiple elderly couples and noted that all the disabled spaces had been taken, too.
Were they also late? Had they had to walk what, to them, would be a considerable distance? Or had a taxi dropped them off?
After some more speed-walking,
I did make my appointment – the second I sat down after checking in was also the second a nurse came to collect me.
In the 45 minutes it took to complete the tests, and have some blood drawn from my ear (would not recommend), I worried about my car.
I mentioned this to the two kind nurses who were administering the tests – or methods of torture, depending on how you look at it.
One told me NHS workers are in the exact same situation, and said that it’s a ‘nightmare’, even with staff parking.
The second nurse said parking attendants are being more lenient, as patients struggle to find a space.
They added that a new car park is being built... but of course, it’s not ready yet.
At 11.45am, I raced out to find it exactly as I’d left it – and new, different cars circling.
I sighed, and joined the other queue of cars waiting to leave.
I suppose we’ll see if a parking charge will come through the post, as the car park is Anpr-controlled.
Lorraine Whitehead, Royal Stoke director of facilities, apologised to patients like me who struggle to park.
She said: “We apologise to patients and visitors at Royal Stoke who have any difficulty finding a parking space.
“We have improved the availability of spaces, however, we do see spikes in demand.
“We currently provide 911 public spaces for patients and visitors, including 194 disability spaces.
“In addition, there are drop off points at all of our main entrances.”