Letter: Hospital parking is a real joke

After spending the past two weeks in the excellent care of staff at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, I became aware of the well documented hideous parking arrangements at the RSH.

First and most it is frustrating for the staff who arrive stressed after touring the staff parking areas for a space, which they have to pay for, to find no spaces and then having to use the visitors' area and then paying again for doing so.

And then my visitors who attempted to visit me on several occasions but could not find a parking space with no help at all from the persons in the goldfish bowl parking attendant's hut – the very same ones that are unsympathetic to nurses trying to find parking.

However, when you consider that those helping to make these decisions sit pretty with their free parking at establishments around the county they have not given a thought to a resolve to the problem.

There is a simple solution – operate a park and ride service Monday to Friday within the hospital visiting hours between the existing Oxon Park and Ride site and the hospital. I am sure the council and Arriva will have a multitude of excuses as to why they could not, but I am sure one of the private operators would undertake the task.

This would enable the staff car park at the hospital to be expanded, turn the car park over to the voluntary sector so no shareholders or profits are sought by companies operating the car park before the NHS gets its cut, and allow patients to have their visitors which, at the end of the day, aids recovery.

It's a simple plan, but perhaps a little too joined-up for Shropshire Council. After all they have a traffic island to remove in Smithfield Road that was an urgent need.

Graham Oliver

Shrewsbury