Watchdog slams hospital parking provision in Hull
Hospitals in Hull are being urged to make improvements to parking and patient transport.
It follows a report from independent health watchdog Hull LINk.
The report says some people had missed appointments because of a lack of car parking space at Castle Hill hospital.
Hull and East Yorkshire's Hospitals NHS Trust said it is aware the provision of car parking at Castle Hill needs to be improved and is working to provide an additional 200 spaces.
LINk Team Leader Jonathan Appleton said: "Despite positive feedback on some aspects of patient transport and hospital car parking, many people are having problems with these issues."
"We had over 350 separate comments about car parking at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, the majority about a severe lack of space."
He said there was a particular problem at Castle Hill, which patients described as a "nightmare".
As well as missed appointments, he said people also complained about the cost of parking, a lack of disabled spaces and unclear signage.
He added: "With the NHS non-emergency patient transport service many people faced unacceptably long waits to be picked up and taken home from appointments."
David Haire, director of business development and strategy for Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said they would respond to LINk within 20 days as per their request.
He said providing more parking spaces was only "part of the issue".
He added: "We are constantly encouraging staff, visitors and patients to consider using public transport when coming to our hospitals.
"We have an excellent relationship with EYMS who provide a very good bus service to both Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, and we offer discounts to our staff who wish to buy bicycles and low cost rail tickets for travel to and from work."