A PATIENT’S son was left furious at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) after he received a parking fine while waiting for his father to be discharged.
Paul Rogers was asked to collect his dad from Walsgrave Hospital following a knee replacement operation and ensuring complications.
He said: “We’d been promised my 85-year-old father would be sent home in an ambulance.
“When the time came to discharge him, on the evening of September 18, they obviously didn’t have one, as we were asked to fetch him.”
The staff on ward 53 at Walsgrave Hospital told him to park outside the building, phone them and they would bring him down.
But after several of his calls went unanswered, Mr Rogers left his car at the drop-off point and went into reception to let the ward know.
“When Dad finally was wheeled down, he was so immobile, he struggled to get even from the wheelchair into the passenger seat.”
Paul decided not to move the car into a parking space, and stay in the drop-off point outside the hospital.
“To wheel him to a more distant location would have been ludicrous – he had to be loaded at the closest point to the building.”
A few days later Mr Rogers received a £100 fine from the NHS’ car park partners.
He added: “It was presumably a punishment for my father not being able to walk well at 85, with a brand new knee.
Deeming the fine unfair as his dad was originally due to come home in an ambulance and it was not his fault his father’s discharge was delayed, Mr Rogers has appealed it.
“The responses I’ve received have been automation-like and inflexible in the extreme, showing a complete lack of human understanding.
“This is wholly incompatible with the caring nature of the NHS with whom these operators are in partnership.”
A UHCW NHS Trust spokesperson said: “Our priority is always to ensure that patients and visitors who need to use our services receive the best care possible and this includes their car parking experience.
“Drop-off points near the main hospital entrance and the Women and Children’s entrance allow for 10 minutes of free parking and on this occasion a fine was produced due to an extended stay.
“We encourage anyone with parking queries to contact us with their details and proof of payment so we can look into the matter further.”
Mr Rogers’ case is currently going through the appeal process.
