Travel We know that coming to hospital can be a stressful time for you and your family and we will do all we can to help to make your visit to the hospital as pleasant as possible. In the busier periods, please look out for our car park colleagues in High Vis Jackets who will try to direct you safely to a space or a drop off zone. Car parking is very limited at all of our acute hospital sites and we would encourage staff, patients and visitors to consider this prior to driving to NHS Lothian premises. If it is essential that you travel by car, please leave adequate time to find a space prior to your appointment. In advance of your visit, please note the following: please ensure you park within a parking bay; blocking cars or roads can be stressful for other road users there are a number of disabled parking bays throughout the site(s) for blue badge holders (these are clearly marked) parking charges have currently been suspended our quietest periods for visiting patients in hospital is normally after 5pm and over the weekend. For your security and safety, the car parking areas are regularly monitored by CCTV and security personnel. Please be aware that the roads around the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and BioQuarter site are controlled by the local council. Parking on single or double yellow lines may result in a parking ticket issued by local council parking attendants. Drop Off Zones at Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh If you plan to drop somebody off at The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, a temporary drop off zone has been set up and staff will be on site to direct you to this in busier periods. The drop off zone is monitored by security personnel and CCTV to ensure traffic flow is maintained and you will be asked to move if you are seen to be waiting. Patient Parking Due to interim measures across the sites, parking restrictions and patient and visitor parking have temporarily changed. For confirmation on the latest patient parking spaces for the department you are visiting, please contact the clinic directly or refer to your appointment letter. Due to delays with updating the patient letter system, some letters may have out-of-date parking information and we apologise in advance for this. Please see below maps for the current patient and visitor car parking zones at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh: Patients and Visitors Car Parking OPD Car Parking Simpsons Maternity Patients and Visitor Car Parking General anaesthetic + driving? Please use public transport, if possible, or arrange to be dropped off at the hospital and picked up again by car. There are ‘drop off’ zones at our hospitals Disabled Parking Disabled parking is available on all sites. Please ensure your blue badge is displayed in your vehicle at all times when using these spaces. Commercial vehicles Commercial vehicles using our sites must adhere to the Commercial Vehicle Operating Procedures for each site, which can be found on our Transport and Access Information section. These procedures will give guidance on any restrictions to vehicle size and delivery areas. We operate a policy of no reversing without the use of a reversing assistant. A message to all visitors We respectfully request that all visitors to our sites make use of footpaths and walk behind barriers where provided. Please take care when entering and leaving buildings and follow local site signs which may be displayed.
