“It is a ridiculous situation”
The partner of a Blue Badge user has claimed management for Castle Hill Hospital “should be ashamed” of the disabled parking system. The couple, who did not wish to be named, were attending the newly-opened Allam Centre at the NHS hospital on Wednesday.
Although they were impressed with the new building, they said trying to use disabled parking was frustrating. Despite having a Blue Badge, they were informed they needed to register to use disabled parking at the main reception security office.
This would involve a 500-metre journey on footpaths each way. A staff member reportedly suggested driving to the security office to register for parking, then driving back to The Allam Centre for the appointment.
“We parked up in the disabled bay, which we had done before at Castle Hill Hospital without any problems,” they said. But when they mentioned they had parked in a disabled bay, they were told “you need to register”.
The patient’s partner said they would not mind registering, but was shocked when they were told it could only be done at a separate part of the hospital. “I said, ‘How do we do that?’ And they said, ‘You are probably best going in your car.’
“I said this is really a bit silly, because we have just found a parking space. It is a bit of a struggle, as you can imagine, getting parking spaces at Castle Hill.”
The patient’s partner said it would be easier for an able-bodied person to register at the security office, but a disabled person would struggle with the distance. “The terrain is not too wheelchair-friendly either,” they said.
“My thought was, how does a disabled person who turns up by themselves, how do they deal with this? It is a ridiculous situation… they do not seem to have a system that is disabled or wheelchair friendly for people using that building.”
The hassle of having to travel to register for disabled parking would “seem to defeat the object of having disabled bays,” they added. There was no warning they needed to register for disabled parking in the appointment letter, they claimed.
“I did find they have some of app and registration system where you can register before you go, but when we got the paperwork for the appointment, there was nothing in there that indicated we needed to register or how we should register,” the patient’s partner said. “The signage, I would say, is particularly lacking in that respect.
“They opened this wonderful building seven weeks ago. The management should be ashamed of the way they are treating disabled patients.”
A spokesperson for NHS Humber Health Partnership said: “We’re sorry to hear this patient didn’t have a good experience when visiting our hospital. We do endeavour to make it as easy as possible for our disabled patients to park by providing dedicated spaces.
“We encourage patients to register their Blue Badge online before they visit us, so they can enjoy free parking without any hassle. If patients need to do it on the day, there are a few locations they can use at Castle Hill Hospital – the main reception security office, Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haemotology, the Breast Care Unit and the Ear Nose & Throat building.
“The Allam Centre is a new building and we’ll be introducing a tablet there in the future to make it more convenient for patients. We encourage patients to register their Blue Badge online at www.bluebadge.apcoa.co.uk.”
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