How planned car park management can enhance patient care Going to any medical facility, whether that’s for a routine check-up or a specific treatment, often comes with a degree of unease. Nobody likes to have concerns about their health. Having steps in place to put a patient’s mind at ease and help them relax are crucial to providing a better patient experience. It’s easy to overlook what’s going on outside hospitals and GP offices, a patient’s journey doesn’t start when they reach reception. Their arrival on a site and their overall experience can be enhanced by making more of the humble car park. In this blog, we’re explaining how better parking management can support and even improve patient care. Explore more What is car park management? Car park management is a bit of a catch-all term, referring to the various solutions that can be put in place to improve a car park. This could be measures to enforce rules on site, generate revenue, improve payment options, increase security, or any other service that changes a site for the better. But how can each of these translate to a better patient experience? Removing abuse Combating abuse on a car park means enforcing the rules that are in place and ensuring a site is used for its intended purpose. For example, private medical centres with a small car park near to local shops. That car park is for staff and patients, so motorists parking on-site to use other nearby facilities means there is less space for genuine patrons. This causes several problems: Shortage of parking space Congestion Parking complaints from staff and visitors Parking spills into surrounding areas leading to community tensions Reputational damage Patients can be late for appointments causing delays Each of these issues compounds one another, and if left unchecked, can be a genuine hindrance to running an efficient healthcare facility. A patient being late for an appointment can cause delays elsewhere, impacting multiple patients. Adding frustration around parking to what might already be a tense and emotive situation damages the patient experience and severely harms the reputation of a facility and the brand associated with it. By taking steps to remove abuse, it’s possible to retake control of a site and start tackling other issues to enhance the experience patients have. Improving space turnover Space turnover relates to the number of vehicles that can be accommodated as traffic moves through a car park. A high space turnover means a larger number of people can use facilities and benefit from services. It also helps keep a car park moving, ensuring that patients and staff have space to park and that there aren’t queues and congestion to deal with. This helps to underpin and reinforce the work done to combat abuse on a car park. A car park without queues, that’s running efficiently, also creates a fantastic first impression when someone arrives on-site. This is a perfect way to immediately start providing a sense of quality and reassurance before a patient has even come through the door. Gathering insight The ANPR cameras that help monitor a car park can be an invaluable source of data and insight. By understanding the rich performance and behavioural data a car park generates, it’s possible to learn more about how a site is used and then leverage that information to make decisions about the changes that could be implemented and have the most beneficial impact on patients. For example, if a site has pay and display parking and there is an increasing number of patients paying by card, as shown by a site’s payment data, it might be worth considering including other cashless and contactless options such as pay-by-phone. Doing this allows visitors to manage their parking in ways that are more suited to their changing needs. Or fuel analysis data might reveal that an increasing number of vehicles on a car park are electric. This might prompt discussions around whether to add EV charging to a site. Analysing data can guide decision making, allowing a site to make improvements that improve the patient experience and demonstrate an ability to keep the patient at the forefront of everything a healthcare facility does, even improving the car park. Additional assistance People visit a medical facility because they require some form of help. Whether that’s treatment or diagnosis. Accessibility is hugely important to patient experience, and some visitors to a site might have additional requirements or need extra help when they arrive. Car park management can empower a site, enabling valuable tools like notifications. This essentially works like a click and assist service. When an appointment is made, if extra help is needed, such as carrying bags or preparing a wheelchair, a note of the help required is logged, along with the registration of the vehicle bringing the patient to the site. When that vehicle arrives, the ANPR cameras on-site log the registration number and send a notification to reception staff or other internal teams to inform them that a patient has arrived that requires additional help. That assistance is then waiting for the patient when they exit their vehicle. Services like these transform the patient experience, increasing comfort, convenience, and the level of support offered to patients. How can we help transform the patient experience? No two car parks are alike, which is why whenever we work with a business, we take the time to understand their site, the issues it currently faces and the requirements of its users. By doing this, we’re able to put the solutions in place that transform a car park, eliminating abuse and creating a strong foundation for improved efficiency and a more effective patient journey. Enhance your car park To find out more about how Parkingeye can help transform your healthcare site, read more here... Read more →
