A RENFREWSHIRE politician is demanding answers after claiming thousands of pounds were spent on a car park barrier that has never been used at the town’s main hospital.

Councillor Kenny MacLaren has slammed NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for “wasting” £17,000 on a barrier at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and failing to respond to Freedom of Information requests on time. 

The barrier was introduced in September 2017 as part of the health board’s aim to fairly balance car parking spaces between patients, visitors and staff. 

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Councillor MacLaren, whose Paisley Northwest ward covers the RAH, has had several issues with the health board not responding to FOI requests – which are meant to be dealt with in 20 working days – in good time.

In one instance a request received on March 31, 2017, was not given a response until October 6 of that year, prompting an apology to be issued to Councillor MacLaren. 

In November of last year, he was told of plans to introduce further controlled access measures at the hospital’s car park to protect spaces for patients and visitors. 

Councillor MacLaren submitted an FOI on November 28, 2018, asking what the measures were, and also for a copy of a transport review of the car park. 

However, he has still received no information and has since asked the Scottish Information Commissioner to intervene.

He said: “There is a serious concern that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde fail to understand the significance of the FOI legislation in Scotland and are incompetent when it comes to responding to these requests.

“To call in the Scottish Information Commissioner once is bad enough, but to have to ask again makes it seem like the health board simply couldn’t care less about their legal obligation to reply to such requests. 

“Maybe it’s time the current chief executive took action on this issue?

“As regards the substance of the FOI requests, maybe if the health board hadn’t wasted £17,000 on a car park barrier that they haven’t used, they would be able to use that money to ensure that they can answer their legal obligations regarding FOI requests?

“It is also a major concern that a local councillor for the RAH has to resort to the Scottish Information Commissioner to get information about parking and transport plans at the hospital, especially considering the mess the health board has made of this issue in the past.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “The barrier at the Royal Alexandra hospital was installed as part of our car parking policy at a cost of £17,000.

“Unfortunately, the barrier was deliberately damaged after being installed and needed extensive repairs. 

“The repairs have now been carried out and we plan to have the barrier operational by the end of April once we have communicated this to staff and patients.

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“We strive to answer all FOI requests within 20 working days and the majority of them are answered within this
timeframe.

“We can only apologise to Councillor MacLaren that we have been unable to meet this timeframe with an FOI request in 2017, which was subsequently dealt with and closed off 18 months ago, and a current FOI request.”