A new survey has revealed that potentially a third of people who drove to a hospital appointment over the last six months were late because they couldn’t find parking.
Research commissioned by the online parking platform, YourParkingSpace.co.uk, asked 1,006 motorists which events they were delayed to over the last six months due to not being able to find a place to park. Startingly, 32 per cent of the respondents said they had been late to hospital appointments, making it the highest event stated on the list.
With NHS data showing that over 120 million hospital outpatient appointments were made last year, this could mean that millions of people in the UK were potentially late to their appointments, putting them at risk of cancellation.
Brannan Coady, CEO of YourParkingSpace.co.uk, said: “With the NHS under so much pressure right now, the last thing hospitals need is for people to be late to their appointments or maybe even cancelling them as there aren’t enough spaces available.”
The latest news comes at a time when the NHS is already under scrutiny because of extensive waiting list increases for both A&E and other elective surgeries, among other prominent issues it is facing.
“As hospital waiting lists are also at their highest since the NHS was formed, imagine the further despair and misery this could cause someone who has waited a long time to be seen by a medical professional, to then have their appointment cancelled because they couldn’t find a parking spot in time.”
Indeed, over the past 10 years, appointments scheduled at hospitals over the UK has increased by 20 million, with little investment in the parking infrastructure at many NHS trusts to combat the increased traffic levels.
“If you consider the amount of people that use hospital car parking, the staff, patients and visitors, it is easy to see how the increased volume of people going there has caused this issue to spill over.”
Coady called upon those who can, to look at alternatives to using official NHS parking spaces. He continued: “If people are able to walk a short distance, then renting a private driveway, which normally comes at a cheaper price compared to NHS pay and display spaces, could help to alleviate the pressure at hospitals.
“This could then free up spaces for those who are more in need of a spot closer to the hospital.”
Further research conducted by YourParkingSpace.co.uk found that with stays of up to one hour costing around £2.80 at many hospitals, savvy patients could instead use the online portal to locate and pre-book a nearby spot, sometimes for as little as £1 and guarantee they can get to their appointment on time.
