25 May 2011
A new study by consumer watchdog Which? has named the car park facilities at St Helier Hospital as the most improved in the country, while parking facilities at Epsom have also been praised.
The good news follows a comprehensive review of car parking at the Trust, known as 'The Big Conversation'. It was launched to find out how the hospital car parks could be improved, while still keeping them safe, accessible and fair for the hundreds of thousands of people that use them each year.
More than 1,100 local patients, visitors and staff had their say in the review, prompting a raft of changes to be introduced.
And now, Which? have commended the hospital in a new report, with their Executive Director, Richard Lloyd saying: "St Helier faces the same challenges as every other NHS hospital, and yet it has managed to make its car park much more patient-friendly this year." The new report also shows that facilities at Epsom have greatly improved too, and are now rated green for 'good' - a rating that puts us in the top 30% of hospital car parks nationally.
Trust Chief Executive Matthew Hopkins said: "We promised to listen to our patients and visitors, as well as our staff and volunteers, and that's exactly what we've done.
"We are making significant changes to the way our car parks are run, including stopping clamping and making sure patients and visitors are refunded for their parking if their appointment is delayed by more than an hour.
"Importantly, with the financial climate as it is, we have also agreed that parking charges for patients, visitors and staff will not increase over the next two financial years and we won't be charging on Bank Holidays. In addition, patients and visitors will be able to park without any charge for the first 20 minutes of their stay.
"We are also creating more disabled parking spaces and allocating more free short-stay 'drop off' spaces to make parking as convenient as possible.
"Being named as the most improved hospital car park across the whole of England is a fantastic achievement, and I would like to thank every one who took part in 'The Big Conversation'. Without the feedback of so many people we simply wouldn't have been able to make the improvements that really matter.
"We know that people coming into hospital often have a lot on their minds, and they don't need the added hassle of worrying about car parking. That's why we've identified key changes that will make parking at our hospitals as stress-free as possible."
These include:
-
Freezing parking charges for the next two years;
-
Stopping clamping;
-
Improving the signs around the hospital to let people know about concessions available and that the first 20 minutes are free;
-
Plans to change our payment machines to accept credit and debit cards (as well as cash);
-
Plans to introduce a new 'barrier' system at Sutton Hospital (which is currently 'pay and display') will mean patients and visitors no longer have to guess how long they will need a space for;
-
Redesigning the angles of some car park spaces to make them easier to use;
-
Introducing discounts for people who drive electric, biofuel or dual fuel cars to help support our commitment to environmentally-friendly travel.
Matthew added: "We'll continue to listen to the feedback we get from our patients, visitors, staff and volunteers to make sure our car parks are as good and well-managed as they possibly can be."
