25 signatures reached
To: Shona Robison, Cabinet Minister for Health, Well-being and Sport.
Sufficient parking for users of NHS facilities in Scotland
Stop the stress. Improve well-being. Provide sufficient parking at NHS facilities in Scotland for all users, staff, patients and visitors.
Why is this important?
It is stressful for people to have to drive around, for example with a sick relative, or going to work, going for treatment or trying to visit a loved one. Imagine how you feel if you are a grandmother, taking your grandchild to hospital after he/she sustains a painful injury only to find yourself looking for a parking space for 40 minutes. You find a space but have a twenty minute walk, carrying one child, another child in hand. You have a long wait for treatment then get two fretful children back to your car. It has been bashed, and you have a parking ticket. Yes, this really did happen. The effects of that experience stayed with the grandmother for days after the event. Imagine taking a loved one for exhausting radiotherapy. You drive round and round. You and your loved one end up with stress over and above the anticipatory stress about the treatment. This happens at every visit. Imagine trying to get to work. You cannot car share. You have children and carers to drop off/pick up before your shift starts. You get a parking space eventually, you rush a fifteen minute walk before your shift begins, but find the inevitable parking ticket at the end of your shift. People do not live simple hassle free lives in today's world. These example do not fit with government policy in relation to exercise, or reducing pollution. These situation do not harmonise with policy to improve well-being. We need action now.