SASKATOON -- The way people pay to park at Saskatoon’s hospitals has changed and one woman says she’s upset about the new system.

Christina Olson said a recent trip to the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital was more stressful than she was expecting. Over the weekend, she took her one-year-old son there for a sprained ankle.

When she went to park, she discovered a new parking system that has visitors and patients pay when they arrive instead of when they leave.

"It was very frustrating. Instead of paying for an hour, because I had no idea how long I was going to be, I ended up having to pay $18 for a day pass,” Olson said.

People have the option of paying at one of several terminals located at various points throughout the hospital or through a smartphone app.

Olson said she doesn’t have a credit card so her only option was to pay at a terminal, which she said wasn’t an easy process.

“I had to lug a 21-pound child to the mall part, take out cash, turn around, walk all the way back to the pay station,” she said.

The new pay system was implemented at St. Paul’s Hospital and City Hospital in Saskatoon in 2018. It only recently came into effect at Royal University Hospital and the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital.

Derek Miller, executive director of infrastructure management at the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said they’re listening to concerns but believe the Pay-by-Plate system is effective.

"We see this at other hospitals in western Canada. It's a pretty common approach to managing parking so we've just recently implemented this. We are getting some feedback and we're making improvements to the system based on that,” he said.

Olson said she hopes to see those improvements.

"Your first priority instead of looking after whoever, you're more worried about getting a parking ticket than you are about seeking care."

Olson said she’ll have to make regular visits to the children’s hospital as one of her other children – her one-year-old daughter with Down syndrome – needs regular blood work and has a pediatrician there.

She said she’s hoping her concerns will be addressed soon.