There has been a call for action to be taken to improve the parking situation at a Belfast hospital as patients "wait over 40 minutes" to get into the car park.
The Royal Victoria Hospital car park has had issues with its parking capacity for a number of years due to the amount of people that use and work at the hospital every day.
Patients have told Belfast Live that at certain times of the day, usually between 10.30am and 3pm, it can take over 40 minutes to an hour to get access to the car park, leaving many fearing that they may miss their appointment.
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The Belfast Trust has warned patients that missing an appointment can cost the Trust around £250.
Speaking to Belfast Live, one patient said: "You can be queuing for 50 minutes if not longer in a long queue of cars which is travelling from both entrances to the car park.
"Some cars have to reverse to leave the queue and cars are having to put there hazard lights on to travel past the queue of cars to get to the designated staff parking around the corner. I've seen people who have appointments to go to and they will swap the driving responsibility with the passenger (if they can drive) and walk to their appointment with a child.
"The children's car parking is just as bad and have to drive around a queue of cars to get to the entrance of the RVH. It's very time consuming and worrying when you are stuck in the queue as you fear that you will miss your appointment."
A spokesperson for the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust said: "We are sorry that any service user or visitor has difficulty accessing a car parking space on our sites. The parking spaces on the Royal Hospitals is limited by the size of the site and the ongoing building programme.
"Unfortunately at peak times, demand exceeds the existing car park provision. We actively manage our car park resources to minimise any impact on patients and visitors, so if a lengthy queue forms at a car park, our Car Parking and Security staff will redirect motorists to available spaces in staff car parks.
"The Royal Hospitals site is very accessible by public transport with bus stops servicing all of the hospitals. There are also links and information on the Trust’s website for the Translink journey planner and Disability Action, who provide an accessible door-to-door travel service to older people and people with disabilities. Over the past two years we have also been providing a free Park & Ride service from Blacks Road for both patients and staff. Taxis are also a popular option for patients.
"Unfortunately congestion on the Royal Hospital site at peak times is an ongoing issue with no quick fix. In the longer term, the Trust will improve car parking provision as part of the development of the new Maternity and Children’s Hospitals however we are unlikely to receive planning approval to significantly increase car parking capacity given the Belfast City Council and DfI focus on sustainable travel which is fully supported by the Trust."
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