The waiting time for a parking lot at Belfast Royal Victoria Hospital is around 45 minutes on average, so there are long lines during visiting hours and patients sometimes come late for appointments.
Belfast Live was there on Wednesday and everyone we spoke to agreed – that “it’s ridiculous”.
After the issue was highlighted on social media, concerns were also raised that medical staff requested for a number of reasons related to patient care can also languish in line at the visitor parking lot.
One doctor said, “a family doctor colleague who came to RVH to do urgent papers for a patient had to stand in line for 45 minutes in the visitor parking lot” because “there is no reserved parking space for visiting clinicians and it makes no sense” [the] Belfast Trust this can cause problems “.
“There will be times when non-RVH employees need to attend urgently for clinical reasons [such as] Filling out forms on mental health, discharge planning, protection and interest meetings, etc., ”they added.
“Queuing for visitor parking spaces is not appropriate.”
But they also said, “Solutions don’t have to be complex: some reserved parking spaces for doctor visits (not in the visitor car park) and an email address from which parking permits for doctor visits can be requested and printed out and put on the dashboard”.
The parking lot situation at the hospital is not a new topic and has been raised several times.
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On the subject of matching items
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There are signs along the road to the visitor car park: “The Belfast Trust apologizes for the long queue. Thank you for your patience as we actively seek ways to improve the queuing problem on the Royal Hospital grounds. ”
We asked how long the signs had been there and whether a solution was in sight.
A Trust spokesman admitted that this is “an ongoing problem with no quick fix” but that it is “unlikely that they will get planning permission to significantly increase parking space”.
Cars are waiting to enter
“We are sorry that any service user or visitor is having difficulty finding a parking space on our websites,” they said.
“The parking spaces at the Royal Hospitals are limited by the size of the site and the ongoing construction program. Unfortunately, the demand at peak times exceeds the available parking space. We actively manage our parking space resources to minimize the impact on patients and visitors, so if there is a long queue in a parking lot, our parking and security staff will redirect drivers to vacant spaces in the employee parking lots. “
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On the subject of matching items
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They said the website is “very accessible by public transport, with bus stops serving all hospitals” and that in the past few weeks “information about a Park & Ride service from Blacks Road with stops on social media.” and shared on the Trust’s website ”. in the hospital”.
“This free patient and visitor service runs every 30 minutes Monday through Friday between 7 am and 6.30 pm and has been available to staff since December 2020,” they added.
A long line in both directions on Wednesday around 11am
“Information about this service is also provided to patients in their appointment letters. The Trust’s website also has links and information for the Translink Travel Planner and Disability Campaign, which offer older people an accessible door-to-door travel service, and” People with disabilities Taxis are also a popular option for patients.
“Unfortunately, peak congestion on the Royal Hospital site is a persistent problem that does not provide a quick fix. In the longer term, the Trust will improve the availability of parking as part of the development of the new maternity and pediatric hospitals. as Belfast City Council and DfI focus on sustainable travel fully supported by the Trust.
“We encourage our employees to commute to work by public transport, on foot, by bike, motorcycle or to car sharing,” they continued.
Signpost to the visitor parking lot
“We appreciate the fact that due to the shift rhythm or the availability of alternative travel options, it will always be necessary to provide parking spaces for employees. Previously these were given on a first come basis, but we have agreed that the access criteria to the parking spaces will be applied retrospectively to all employees to ensure that the available parking spaces are distributed to those most in need and tailored to service needs.
“This change has been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but we hope it will be implemented later this year. We are also trying to revise public parking rates to prevent all-day parking for commuters.”
Regarding hospital staff in urgent need of access, they said, “All on-call hospital staff have access to the staff parking spaces closest to the hospital and there shouldn’t be any queuing in a public parking lot.”
