Madam, – In the straitened times we now live in, the question for the HSE and the hospital managements must be: how far is far enough?
I had an appointment at Connolly hospital this month. I was aware that the introduction of parking charges was imminent. I was not aware that the intention was to couple this with a policy of clamping.
I can understand the need to have parking charges. I do not like them, but they are inevitable in these times, although I feel it is not in keeping with a hospital ethos. My visit was an appointment, so I had a given time to be there and hoped to be seen within a specific time. So I was able to feed the meter for two hours.
Attending a hospital is generally stressful, for many reasons. But this system of pay and display increases the stress. It is unlike the systems in other hospitals and institutions where you can pay on departure and the machine will take notes, credit cards, etc.
Very unwell or elderly patients coming in to the hospital must remember to bring their medical card or have €100 to pay for the visit and now they must also find the change for parking, guess the duration of their visit and pay for it in advance.
I have witnessed the reception staff in AE being hassled by people having to wait so long to be seen by a doctor. I can only imagine the problems for staff that this new system is going to throw up.
Having been given good or bad news by the doctor, or been admitted to the hospital, you discover your time has expired because in your fear, frustration and worry, you forgot to keep “feeding the meter”. You may leave the hospital to find yourself clamped. The clamping charge is €80. Maybe it would be cheaper for all patients to call an ambulance.
On the day of my appointment I witnessed the clampers in the car park, and I felt threatened.
This is the approach of a most uncaring and bullying authority. Perhaps it is to reduce the numbers of people on trolleys? – Yours, etc,