Andy shares this latest news on behalf of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust. Ed
A new car parking system goes live at St. Mary’s Hospital on 2nd January to make parking easier for visitors and make the site safer for patients, visitors, volunteers and staff.
Following a period of commissioning and testing, the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system is now ready to be activated on 2nd January at 06:00am and affects the main visitor car park located at the front of the hospital. The north car park adjacent to Maternity / Coronary Care Unit (CCU) will operate the same system later in the month.
Pay on exit, not entry
Instead of using the old ‘pay and display’ ticket system, ANPR reads the car number plate when you arrive and leave the car park. New payment machines have been installed in both car parks as well as inside the main entrance and north entrance adjacent to the reception areas.
The machines offer a range of payment options including cash, card, telephone payments or by mobile app (APCOA connect).
No plans to increase rates
There are currently no plans to increase current parking rates when the new system is activated.
Staff will be available to offer assistance at the payment machines in the main hospital building and Call for Help / Assistance buttons on the machines in the carparks are directly linked to the on-site Car Parking and Security Officers. All other car parks on the hospital site will continue to use pay and display machines.
Rat run barrier
In addition to the automated number plate recognition in the main car park, a barrier will be in operation towards the south of the site.
From 2nd January only authorised vehicles will be able to pass through the barrier which will be controlled by the automatic number plate recognition system; all other vehicles will not be able to pass through the barrier.
Several near misses
St. Mary’s Hospital site is increasingly being used as a ‘rat-run’ by those who wish to avoid congestion on the roundabout or shorten their journey. The increased vehicular movement on site causes issues and there have been several near misses.
Fortunately accidents causing injury have been avoided but the Trust has a ‘duty of care’ to everyone using the St. Mary’s Hospital site – patients, visitors, volunteers and staff.
A better service for patients and visitors
Jon Burwell, Director of Strategy and Planning at Isle of Wight NHS Trust said:
“This new system will enable us to provide a better service for patients and visitors. No longer will patients have to worry about whether their parking ticket is going to run out.
“The system will also benefit staff with a simplified administrative system and no requirement to display a permit in the windscreen of staff cars.
“The system will also provide the Trust with the ability to improve road traffic management on the St. Mary’s Hospital site.”
