NEWBORN babies are are among patients stuck in hospital traffic while County Hall car parks stand empty and a frustrated councillor calls for urgent change.
Cllr Andrew Cross’s online petition calling for the car parks at closed County Hall to be opened up to ease pressure on the car parks at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester has no gained more than 500 signatures.
Other proposals, which form part of the petition, include installing a Beryl Bike bay near County Hall and the ‘immediate implementation of a park and ride’ at Sixways to serve the hospital which so far has yet to happen.
The park and ride scheme, which was due to launch in the autumn, has yet to go live.
Meanwhile, plans for a new 850-space multi-storey carpark for the hospital have been submitted but are set to take months to build so offer no quick-fix solution to the delays faced daily by patients, visitors and NHS staff.
However, Worcestershire County Council has ruled out the use of its carparks by hospital patients and staff. A council spokesperson said: “While the main County Hall offices are not in use, the car park is still needed to accommodate staff and visitors to the wider County Hall campus including Wildwood. The County Hall car park has also been used to accommodate specialist contractor vehicles and equipment for ongoing investigative works.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Cross, a Green Party city and county councillor, said patients including newborn babies and their parents, are stuck in the long queues snaking in and out of the hospital.
He said: “I have created this petition out of frustration that it is taking so long to resolve the long-standing problem of dire congestion at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
“In April this year, Cllr Katie Collier and I witnessed first-hand the grim congestion at the hospital. To show the extent of the problem, we created a sped-up walk-past video of the cars queueing for about 90 minutes to leave the hospital.
“In July, after the closure of County Hall due to legionella and RAAC (crumbling concrete), I wrote to senior County officers who advised that there were no legal or logistical barriers to doing opening up the County Hall car parks for overspill hospital parking; they said it was a political decision.
“I forwarded this reply to the political leader of the county council, asking him to consider this, but did not even receive an acknowledgement.”
Cllr Cross said he hoped a new park and ride scheme would be running by autumn.
To sign the petition click here.
The city councillor for Leopard Hill and county councillor for Warndon Parish said: “But now it is nearly Christmas, and the situation for hospital staff, patients and visitors remains just as bad, and the park and ride is still at least “weeks away”.
“The hospital has a planning application in (hybrid with the new school) for a multi-storey car park with new entrance off A4440, but that will take at least a year to build if approved.
“At our weekly councillor surgery today, a resident who works at the hospital told Katie and me of the discharge of newborn babies being delayed by congestion on the hospital site, adding to clinical pressure in the hospital.
“Allowing hospital overflow parking at County Hall is a short-term measure which would have immediate beneficial impact.”