Email
March 3

Dear Sir

After living in Spain for near on 18 years plus operating a small business until retirement, I am used to the fact that the Spanish don’t do joined up thinking.

I live near to the Vega Baja hospital, close to Orihuela and over the years have had cause to go there for both major and minor problems; the service and staff have always been excellent.

Patient car parking was a large area opposite A&E, plus a covered area opposite the main entrance. Staff parking is mainly at the opposite side of the building to A&E.

As many readers will know, the hospital is being expanded with new buildings springing up where the main car park and helicopter pad used to be. Parking became a challenge, the existing covered car park is quite small, so patients started using a field at the side of the hospital which was eventually gravelled over. This is inadequate so patients began using up spaces at nearby restaurants, which annoyed the owners somewhat.

Last week, I had cause to go there to make an appointment. No parking available in the sheltered area, the former field was full of cars with a queue hoping to gain entry, but barriers are now in situ. So, I gave up and went back later when it was quieter and parked in the covered area. I took the opportunity to ask the reception about parking, to be advised that there were spaces available behind Los Gorriones restaurant opposite the hospital. He said that the old field was now for staff only. I mentioned that signs would be helpful and got the shrug. There was no written information available.

The next day I went back so can now advise readers where to park. Heading towards Orihuela so that the hospital will be on the left, there is a roundabout with ITV San Bartolome off it; after about 100 metres there is a sign saying ‘entrada’, this is it. It doesn’t say ‘parking’ or ‘hospital’ or any sensible pairing of these two words. The next roundabout is where the hospital entrance is off this busy main road. The traffic became snarled due to the number of pedestrians crossing the road for the five-minute walk between the two points
Just a few thoughts. Why no signage or information in the hospital? I looked online where there is an article about the building works, which incidentally states that there will be parking underneath the new facilities and that during the building, parking will be in the old field, nothing about parking behind the restaurant.

For sure the staff have to park, but wouldn’t it have been more sensible for them to use the car park behind Los Gorriones? They are likely to be fitter than the patients, who could continue to park in the old field. No confusion and no mixing of many pedestrians with main road traffic. Either way, clear information about parking is vital. At least, unlike in the UK, it is free

Maybe there is a reason for some of this, and of course the use of Anglo-Saxon logic is often at conflict with the native mind set,

Regards,
Graham Shelton