TENSIONS are running high after a barrier at Renfrewshire's hopsital caused a parking headache for workers, writes Jack Thomson.
Chaos erupted on the road next to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) when the £17,000 barrier became operational, creating tailbacks and congestion.
Health board chiefs say the decision was made to protect spaces for patients and visitors and claimed they had received “no adverse comments” on the restrictive measure.
READ MORE: Renfrewshire councillor demands answers after £17k 'wasted' on RAH barrier
It has led to hospital staff further clogging up the adjacent Corsebar Road – an address that has been monitored by Renfrewshire Council for a traffic regulation order (TRO).
Councillor Kenny MacLaren, whose ward covers the RAH, has been a vocal opponent of the barrier and said hardworking staff “deserve better”.
He said: “These roads weren’t built for all the cars that are parked up it and the number of vehicles going up and down there.
“It’s an issue for the staff who are working shifts and long hours. You can’t expect them to say ‘hold this limb while I put money in the meter’.
“If you’re working at a hospital you can’t leave a ward to run down and feed a meter. The hospital staff – whether it’s nurses, doctors or cleaners – deserve better.”
Renfrewshire Council has put forward a draft TRO for Corsebar Road, which would aim to prevent “danger to persons or other traffic using the roads” and “improve road safety”.
If given the go-ahead, pay and display short and long stay parking places could be created at the address.
Councillor MacLaren added: “The staff have got an important job to do and to interrupt that every few hours wouldn’t be practical.”
The barrier was put into use on Tuesday, leaving staff stressed and furious.
One hospital worker said: “This morning was the start of someone manning the barrier. It was a shambles.
“There were queues along the whole of the street, people were late for work and patients late for clinics.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has fiercely defended its decision to introduce the barrier at the RAH, insisting the response has been “extremely positive”.
A spokeswoman said: “We have taken the decision to install barriers in the front car park of the RAH to protect the spaces for our patients and visitors to use, following complaints that they were finding parking difficult.
“The barriers are only in use at peak times – Monday to Friday, 6.30am to 9.30am and 2pm to 3.30pm – to allow patients to come and go easily.
“The response from patients and visitors has been extremely positive so far, and no adverse comments have been received since the introduction of the barrier.
“We did give the commitment to monitor the effect of the barriers to minimise any disruption to the site and surrounding roads and on Tuesday the barrier was raised by staff at 8.45am who noticed a queue forming. This has not happened since.
“Before the barriers were implemented we met with the local residents association (Corsebar and District Residents’ Association) at which Renfrewshire Council was represented.
“We also met with the Clyde Partnership Forum, which includes the trade unions, to update them on our plans.
“As well as parking for patients and visitors, there are spaces for staff to park at the RAH – permit, non-permit and car share.
“We have made every effort to increase parking spaces for staff including the successful implementation of car share permits. In fact, the RAH has more car parking spaces per member of staff and patients than any of our other hospitals.
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“There have been parking attendants on the RAH site for many years and we are now implementing the Parking Policy to bring it in line with other NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde sites. We recently received a large number of complaints from patients who were having difficulty finding a space and this left us no other option than to introduce a barrier.
“We will continue to monitor the effect of the barriers as well as the number of patient/visitor spaces needed at this site to balance the demands of all carpark users.”
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