Hospital chiefs apologised for parking calamities which even saw a priest get a ticket while he gave a dying patient the last rites.
Car parking at Russells Hall Hospital was on the agenda at a meeting of Dudley Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny committee at a meeting on October 5.
A report for the committee said while Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust owns the land, the building and services are run by service providers including contractor Mitie which employs Group Nexus to provide automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology and parking enforcement.
Laura Broster, group director of communications at the trust, told the committee: “I’d like to start with an apology, the current parking experience at Russells Hall Hospital is not good enough and we are sorry for the frustration and distress it is causing for our patients, our visitors and our staff.
“We have had cause to escalate some of our concerns directly to senior leaders at Mitie.
“We expect our partners to provide a service that is fair, accessible and responsive and we are challenging Mitie to make the improvements that are required.”
Committee members were sent a written account of one family’s parking nightmare at Russells Hall Hospital by Dr Simon Keeling, whose 84-year-old father spent three weeks in the hospital before his death in early September.
Dr Keeling said: “During that time we took my 85-year-old mother to the hospital each day, accompanying her as she visited my father. We used her disabled badge for parking.
“Over the period of time that dad was in hospital I have received two parking notices, my brother one parking notice.
“Each time we used mum’s disabled badge to park, correctly scanning the badge before leaving.”
Dr Keeling told councillors parking machines told him the machine would say ‘you have already paid’ or ‘parking is free’ but he still received enforcement notices.
He added: “To add insult to injury, the priest who visited my father and administered the last rites an hour before he died also received a parking notice despite paying for parking.
“My belief is that the parking charging system is not fit for purpose.
“The parking company acts as judge and jury but as you can see, you cannot be sure that the notices are being issued correctly.”
Ms Broster said: “We don’t believe every aspect of the ANPR system is currently right and working well.
“Our partners Mitie have committed to practical improvements including clearer signage and working with Group Nexus to make sure appropriate concessions are properly recognised and they are applied fairly.
“There will be improvements to ANPR infrastructure and we will continue as a trust to strengthen communications.”
Committee members are set to meet bosses from the trust and Mitie during a visit to the site to see the problems for themselves.
Cllr David Stanley wondered why around 1,500 parking spaces out of a total of 2,000 were allocated to staff.
Ms Broster explained the trust employs around 6,000 members of staff and reducing the number of spaces available for them would impact on their ability to provide services.
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