Patients asked to help design new parking system at health centre

NHS Property Services (NHSPS), which is responsible for managing the car park, has ended its local contract with Smart Parking, which currently provides a camera-based parking system at the facility.

The current system will remain in place for a maximum of 90 days while a contractual notice period is served, meaning that patients must continue to follow existing rules until further notice.

NHSPS is now appointing a new car parking contractor and will invite patient, community and NHS representatives to help design the replacement system.

While the permanent new system is designed, NHSPS is exploring interim solutions for the car park that will cover the period between Smart Parking leaving and the new contractor starting.

Tony Griffiths, Head of Special Projects at NHS Property Services said: “We’re acting on the concerns raised by the community and will be bringing in a new system to improve the experience for patients.

“We want to make the new system easy to use so we’ll be asking local people how they would like it to work.”

A spokesman for North East Hampshire & Farnham Clinical Commissioning Group, which plans and pays for many of the NHS services provided at the centre, added:

“We want local people to be able to access their medical treatment without having to worry about other matters, such as car parking. We have listened to patients’ concerns and worked with NHS partners and we’re confident this change will be an improvement on the current system.”

The new system will be in place in autumn and NHS Property Services will keep people updated.

The car park at Aldershot Centre for Health receives about 25,000 visits a month.