A FAMILY visiting Musgrove Park Hospital claimed they missed their son's appointment after waiting more than an hour to find a parking space.

The family, who wish to be anonymous, were visiting the hospital on Tuesday (May 29) to take their infant son for an important appointment at paediatrics outpatient department for his skin condition.

They thought they'd arrived in plenty of time, but ended up missing the appointment after waiting for an hour finding a space.

"My wife arrived 30 minutes early, assuming this would be more than enough time to park and reach the ward," He said. "She arrived to be told there was a minute wait for parking in the Q-park multi-story car park.

"Having tried to find a space in any street within walkable distance she was forced to give up and return home, missing my son's appointment and with a nationally respected expert pointlessly waiting. I wonder how many patients arrived at the hospital in reasonable time to realise that there was actually no chance of them accessing medical care they needed. No warning is given on the website parking may not be available."

The hospital says it updates visitors on parking via social media channels, but will now include the website.

A spokesman for Musgrove Park Hospital said: “Musgrove is extremely focussed on patient care and we do our best to ensure all patients and visitors have as positive an experience here as possible. Therefore we are very sorry to hear that a patient has missed their appointment due to having to wait for a parking space.

“The trust’s website and social media accounts are updated as soon as we are made aware of any issues with parking. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, our car parks can get very busy and on these days we use social media to advise patients and visitors to leave additional time to get here. We will now also update our website with this information.

“If a patient is running tight to time on an appointment we are happy to be flexible with arrangements for drop off and parking. In these situations we would ask visitors to call ahead so this can be arranged.”

Visitors are also encouraged to use the Park and Ride which stops at the hospital.