SEVERAL changes will be made to parking services at Glangwili Hospital to make it easier and safer for patients to get into hospital.
Hywel Dda University Health Board, at the latest full health board meeting on Thursday, agreed to support a number of measures to relieve pressure on the Carmarthen hospital site, whilst a bigger solution is developed. This will include:
- creating 40 additional staff parking spaces opposite the laundry department
- creating more spaces as part of any capital project at the site (for example spaces are planned as part of the Phase Two Women and Children’s project)
- further promotion of the park and ride scheme at Nantyci Showground for staff and appropriate patients and visitors to increase its use
- restricting parking outside the Outpatient’s Department to patients and visitors only from 1 March 2016 (to allow for signage and staff awareness)
- removing named parking spaces for consultants and instead creating a reduced number of reserved spaces to protect the ability of medical staff attending for clinics to be on time for their patients (please note Executive named spaces at the headquarters in St David’s Park, Carmarthen, were removed two months ago)
- improve signage on the site
- improve communication with patients and staff over transport issues, including providing information on appointment letters
Board members asked that in addition to the measurers highlighted above, a bigger impact solution was investigated by staff in liaison with interested parties, including members of the community who have made suggestions over a multistory car park.
They said it was unacceptable for the current situation to continue as it was a risk to safety as well as stressful for individual patients.
A report discussed in the meeting confirmed an audit and survey of people parking at the site had revealed at any one time up to 127 staff cars are parked in patient spaces, that 51 per cent of patients have experienced being late for appointments and 22 per cent had not attended appointments as a result.
Chairman Bernardine Rees OBE said: “This is a really significant problem for the Board and one which we have received complaints on and which is consistently discussed in our public engagement events. There are some significant costs to accommodate more spaces on the site but with a limited footprint and multiple pressures, we have to take any action we can to minimise parking problems. It makes no sense to be delivering excellent healthcare if we can’t help people get through the door on time. Missed appointments are costly to both the individual, as well as the health service at large.
“I therefore, support these measures but we need to do more work to outline a bigger impact solution for our patients. We need to consider a number of options, from multi-storey car park to reviewing the clinical strategy for Glangwili Hospital as whilst we have put new services in, we haven’t as yet taken anything out. I would also like our stakeholders and public, including those who instigated a petition calling on a multi-storey car park, to be involved in this work.”
Other measures being discussed include reviewing patient visiting times to provide more flexibility at peak times, negotiations with Carmarthenshire Council and Gwili Railway Management Committee regarding potential use of land near the hospital, and ongoing discussions with local bus companies to extend routes such as has been done to the route linking Withybush and Glangwili hospitals.
Director of Operations and Deputy Chief Executive Joe Teape said: “Parking is a serious problem on the site as it can restrict traffic flow both on the site and on the approach. There hasn’t been an incident of emergency ambulance not being able to get through but this is obviously our greatest concern and why we are taking all the measures we can to address this problem.
“In the meantime, after struggling to park on site myself, I would urge anyone who can, to use the park and ride scheme. It’s not the solution for all, but I will certainly be using this from now on.”
Parking issues and the detail around proposed solutions will be discussed by staff, patient representatives and the wider community as one of the health board’s ‘big conversations’, with feedback mechanisms to be announced shortly.
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