Patients need patience

Having to visit the General Hospital in Southampton currently is a nightmare.
And all because the main entrance to the hospital is being rebuilt and is consequently closed.
And that means a lengthy detour walk to an alternative entrance, and more than likely having to walk back to the main entrance area and lifts on the inside of the building, before you start heading towards any individual section of the hospital.
Bear in mind that this hospital is huge and to find your way around almost calls for a personal GPS  system to navigate your way through seemingly endless and soulless corridors and waiting areas just to reach the department or section of the hospital you’re looking for.
According to the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust the work on the new entrance is necessary because of the increasing number of visitors and patients.
It seems when the existing entrance was built in the 1980s there were far fewer patients. Today they reckon on almost 10,000 people walking through the doors every weekday, and say they needed to create a modern space that better served everyone’s needs. 
That involves extensive rebuilding, and a fresh design to include a larger, lighter double height entrance, a new reception area and improved facilities for patients and visitors and more seating.
Most of us do not relish a visit to the hospital, but just now is fraught  with problems. And today to cap it all, even some of the parking arrangements had changed and  a parking area I had previously found convenient had been closed, and I was diverted to another park much further away. With a patient to deliver for treatment, and subsequently collect, the entire afternoon became a horrendous experience. 

Thankfully the treatment went smoothly and undoubtedly a lot less painfully than the logistics of getting in, finding a convenient place to drop off my wife who was having the treatment, and then having to endure the whole exercise again to pick her up.