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Parking outside emergency department

Posted By Kitten

"Parking outside emergency department"

About: Wonthaggi Hospital / Emergency Department

(as the patient),

My partner took me to the new Emergency Department recently. They parked the car in the 10 minute drop off and pick up, first, near the door so they could get a wheel chair as I was unable to walk properly and had extreme Back pain. Once they had settled me and I had seen a nurse, my partner moved the car back to the last disabled parking spot. The car has 2, current disability permits displayed.

I finally saw a doctor. In the meantime, my partner had been asked by a security guard to move our car as it was only 10 minute parking. My partner spoke with this security guard, who was dressed to look like a police officer, that they should be able to park there, but no, they had to drive down the sloped driveway, into the car park, and then with their bad knees, back and arthritis struggle to walk back up the sloping walkway to emergency.

Then when I came back out of emergency, after seeing a wonderful caring lady doctor, was met with no car outside, could I walk down the ramp, no, had to wait till my partner went down the sloped driveway and got the car to pick me up. I was given a morphine type injection, and my partner was sore with their arthritis as well when we got home. At most hospitals, disabled parking is for people who have difficulty getting in and out of their cars etc, who cannot walk distances to their cars. I was not there for a cold! I felt the security guard could ask to see the date on the permits, but not deny parking. That is my complaint. Also the nurses do a great job there, I found it very hard to hear them though through that thick glass and vice versa I believe.

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Response from Jan Child, CEO, Bass Coast Health 15 months ago
Jan Child
CEO,
Bass Coast Health

Submitted on 9/01/2023 at 8:24 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 10/01/2023 at 9:56 AM

picture of Jan Child

Hello Kitten,

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide us with your feedback. I am very glad that the experience in the ED was positive, but I note the issues you raise with parking.

Unfortunately, we do not have longer term disabled parking in the drop off zone because of the limited space available - we do have compliant disabled parking, (from memory I think 4 spaces), very close and adjacent to the ED and main entry, and yes, drivers can drop people off, park, then drive up to the drop off zone again to pick people up. You will see from the configuration that we had allowed 3 drop off spaces and we limit the time to make sure that access is optimised for as many people as possible. The security guard (who wear Shadow Security uniforms) are asked to monitor people in the drop off zone and move people on where they are longer than 10 minutes, to keep the access available for the majority.

I am sorry that this arrangement was not in keeping with your expectation, but unfortunately it is the best arrangement we can provide in the circumstances, and importantly, is very compliant with disability regulations. What I can assure you of, is that in the next stages of our rebuild program, where car parking will once again be a feature, I will provide your feedback to see if there is any way that the disabled parking can be directly outside. I am not sure this will be possible given the need for so many drop off spaces, but I can promise you we will raise it as a potential possibility.

I would be happy to chat this through with you and can be contacted on 0472847355.

Kindest Regards, Jan.

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