Day out at Arrowe Park hospital

Arrowe Park NHS University Teaching Hospital.

This is the main hospital on the Wirral. There's both a free car park and a chargeable one. There's also bus links available. I'll try and describe getting into the hospital: there is no tactile paving to highlight to blind/visually impaired people attending with families/friends/carers by car. From the car park there are grey bollards, sticking up from the pavement in the centre of the crossing at each side. I don't see the point of these as they pose a trip hazard. These pointless obstructions held no reason, artistic or otherwise and are a wheelchair crash risk. As you cross the zebra crossing you are faced with large grey boulders which can cause a problem if using a wheelchair or a blind cane. The path to the doors is dark grey, like a road, twisty and narrow. It's do-able, but could do with widening to allow more than one wheel chair. There is also a camber to the pavement. The entrance isn't good for those with low vision, as its all clear glass, so finding the way in is hard. The entrance is divided in 2 - in and out, due to covid precautions. The receptionist came over, and my mum and I sanitized our hands, the woman asked if we'd had covid symptoms in the last 7-days. We hadn't and were allowed in. I found it odd that being a Hospital, with vulnerable patients we weren't asked to do a lateral flow test or asked for our vaccine status, like at the theatre. I was glad my mum was there, as trying to find the department, was like walking through a maze in a blizzard! everywhere was white -the floors, doors and walls. Whilst this adds to the cleanliness effect, its very disorientating for someone who's visually impaired. To check in to the appointment, as everything was white, from the walls and floor, to the desk and a little wall sectioning off where patients waited. I found the area hard to make sense of due to the lack of differing colours and textures. The walls are sterile and have no posters or information sheets. The examination room was small, with just enough room to turn comfortably in my chair. The 2 kind medical NHS staff were very good and asked how best to help me onto the bed and were gentle as they did so. I was recently admitted to hospital and had to use the toilet whilst there, hospital toilets are well known for not having great access. I rarely use hospital toilets, but the one I used on the ward was spacious with plenty of room. This was my first time back to a hospital since shielding and I have to say, it felt much cleaner than previous appointments. This may have been because there were less people around. Some steps the hospital could take to be more accessible include: *at the car park to hospital path crossing, have tactile paving. *widen the path. *better car park lighting. *highlight the glass frontage better, so that visually impaired people don't crash into it with their cane and end up in hospital for another reason. * have the walls, floors and doors painted different colours e.g. white floor, blue walls, yellow doors. This would reduce disorientation. * a button you press that announces where you are. *different coloured furniture so it's easier to tell where you are, to avoid injury.