"Assistance with Disability"

I brought a patient in on Monday 13th March. She had arranged for a wheelchair and porter to meet her at Reception as she can barely walk.

Nowhere to park on arrival. Left my car partially obstructing the stupidly narrow lane and went to reception, risking a parking charge. No Porter. Reception phoned them, they would be down. Patient struggled in. Still no porter, phoned again. Porter said no wheelchair available.

I found a place to leave my car in Car Park A and returned to reception.

Patient still waiting and now late for appointment!

Receptionist found wheelchair and I pushed patient to the appointment on Level 4.

After the appointment, I had to take the patient down to the entrance and leave her waiting while I retrieved my car. This time I managed to find a place to park before I got her to my car.

My function is to drive patients to and from appointments etc, and although we give some help when required, we are not meant to take the place of your porters when they can't do as they have been asked.

The recent changes to the road system in front of Derriford have made things more difficult and the lack of dedicated volunteer driver spaces complicate things even more.

How are we supposed to drop off and collect people if there are no spaces to stop and are constantly worrying about getting a parking charge while we try to help them in or out?