Kirkcaldy GP surgery patient hits out over lack of parking after fall

Ian Smith (87) has criticised parking at Kirkcaldy Health Centre after being forced to park away from the building when attending appointments – and he blamed staff parking.

A recent visit to the surgery saw Mr Smith fall on the ice as he walked from the car park. He said: “I fell coming down on the icy pavement because I couldn’t get near the door. I drove round that car park for about 15 minutes - there must have been eight cars driving around in circles trying to wait for someone to come out and then there was a great rush to try to get into a space. It really is obscene.”

Mr Smith said that the current set up could pose a “real danger” to the public and lays the blame at NHS Fife and the surgery.

He said: “I felt I could have broken my leg trying to get into the doctors surgery, and yet there are still parking places at the top of Whytemans Brae where I had to leave my car. It really, really is quite frightening.”

NHS Fife said that they “recognise there are considerable pressures” on parking at peak times.

Director of property and asset management, Neil McCormick, continued: “The whole of the car park is available to patients and visitors, with staff only permitted to use the marked spaces furthest away from the health centre. Security staff regularly patrol the car park during the course of each day, and in instances where staff are found to be in contravention of the car parking policy, staff are issued with a warning notice and this is reported to their line manager.

“We also continue to encourage staff to make use of the available car parking across the whole hospital site and actively promote other means of getting to and from their place of work, including public transport.