An Armagh mother, who regularly attends Craigavon Area Hospital with her disabled son, has implored the Southern Health Trust to do something about the severe lack of parking on site.
The woman – who wished not to be named – described the parking situation as a “nightmare” and worried it is only going to get worse if services are re-directed to Craigavon from Daisy Hill.
“My son’s got muscular dystrophy and therefore has regular appointments at Craigavon,” she explained.
“We had a go for an ECG earlier this week and I could not get parked anywhere. His appointment was at 2.15pm, and I was there before 2pm; I was a half an hour trying to get parked. It was a nightmare.
“I have a blue badge because my son’s got mobility issues but sure I couldn’t even get into the car park to get a parking space for a disability.
“I went up to the back car park where it’s free but there were cars abandoned everywhere – and I totally get it, I wouldn’t say wrong to anybody for abandoning their car because they simply have no other choice. You just have to park where you can or you miss your appointment, simple as.”
The woman says she too was forced to abandon her car on double yellow lines – displaying her blue badge on the dashboard – and making a dart with her son for his appointment.
“I didn’t want to have to do that but, like so many others, I didn’t feel like I had a choice.
“As we came out I had a man giving me dirty looks because of they way I had parked, but for me, it was either that or miss my son’s appointment. Some things are more important.”
The mother said she had to come back to the hospital the next day, and again, “I couldn’t get into the car park”.
She added: “There were ones queuing all the way back at the roundabout to get into the car park.
“I did notice there was a woman, she was probably around the same age as me, and she had a young child; the look of frustration on her face that she couldn’t find a proper space. The child was obviously sick but she was panicking trying to get her buggy out of the boot for the child and then run for the hospital. It’s not on for people in these kinds of situations.
“My own father was in hospital a while back; he had an accident but I had no problems parking that time. That wasn’t long ago, so I don’t know what’s going on now, the parking seems to have gotten so much worse.
“The one thing I did notice was at the maternity unit, there’s room there for about 20 parking spaces but it just seems to have been closed off. Even if they had 20 disability spaces in there; realistically, most people who are at the hospital frequently have a blue badge because they’re sick.
“I feel something needs to be done. It’s not like this anywhere else. I would have regular appointments at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast and there’s just no problems there. The same at Daisy Hill but Craigavon is a disaster and it has a lot more spaces than Daisy Hill.”
The woman says that’s also a serious safety issue with cars parked everywhere and anywhere, particularly in behind the Emergency Department.
“I saw a woman trying to reverse out of there, it’s an accident waiting to happen. It’s just so dangerous.”
A Trust spokesperson told Armagh I: “Car parking around our busy hospital sites is an ongoing challenge. With demand on services continually increasing, we have traffic pressures on both car parking spaces and traffic flow.
“We are continually exploring opportunities to improve car parking and create more spaces on the site but are challenged by both space and financial constraints. We ask for the support of staff, patients and visitors in helping to make the best use of car parking around our sites.”
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