The need to alleviate car parking problems at some NHS Fife sites has led to a suggestion that the authority might consider altering or even scrapping afternoon visiting hours at the region’s hospitals.
With spaces at a premium at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and Queen Margaret Hospital Dunfermline in particular, NHS Fife’s operational divisional committee admitted the status quo concerning car use is “unsustainable” and backed plans to promote other methods of travel.
Health chiefs say they are considering an array of options to ease some of the congestion experienced by patients, visitors and staff. Stressing no decisions have been taken, committee chairman Dave Stewart also insisted nothing has been ruled out except charging.
Time-limited parking in car parks is among the more sensitive suggestions being looked at, while the health board is also to investigate the possibility of changing visiting times to see what impact that may have.
However, Mr Stewart said the latter idea is only one of several being looked at, with any proposal taken forward in future subject to full public consultation.
Staff will be reminded they should not use car parks designated for patient and visitor use, while cycle to work and car sharing schemes will be more heavily promoted.
There will be a trial of six designated car sharing spaces for staff at Queen Margaret Hospital.
Mr Stewart added, “We’ve got to try and change the mindset where people think they’ll jump in their car and it’s up to NHS Fife to provide a car parking space. That’s not the case they can jump in their car but live in the knowledge that there might not be a space to park it in.”
Mr Stewart went on to say the peak time of around 2pm tended to “heap the agony on,” with the arrival of many visitors adding to the many members of staff at the hospital at that point.
He continued, “What would be the reaction if we didn’t have visiting hours in the afternoon? What would the staff think? What would the patients think? What would the public think? These are the sorts of questions we’ve got to be asking.
“It might be a good idea, it might not I don’t know but I think it’s worth asking the questions.”
Mr Stewart also suggested a taxi rank outside the new hospital wing might be worth consideration, adding an extra transport option to buses which will use a new arterial road running through the site.
Committee member John Winton welcomed more emphasis on improving public transport and highlighted the difficulty people had getting from Dunfermline to Kirkcaldy at certain times of the day. He reckons any suggestion of changing visiting hours would be a non-starter.
“Thirty per cent of the population are classed as not having access to a car, and they will tend to be the more deprived and the older,” he said. “Quite frankly the visiting hours thing if you want to find yourself hung from the flagpole in Dunfermline public park then just go for it.”
Continued…
The parking issue is being taken forward ahead of the opening of the new wing in Kirkcaldy, as bosses believe now is the right time to raise awareness of travel planning among staff and the wider community.
Presenting some of the options available, Dr William Dove, travel plan co-ordinator, explained, “We cannot simply build more car parking spaces, but we can instead be ‘cannier’ in how we do things to achieve the same result easing problems associated with cars and car parking.
“As the opening of the new wing at Victoria comes nearer, this is an ideal opportunity for us as an organisation to embrace change in some of our habits, with the new facility acting as a focus for adopting ‘new’ ideas and working practices throughout NHS Fife.”
With staff the main focus of the travel planning exercise, one option unlikely to be pursued is an idea that NHS Fife could ban driver-only car travel for staff who live within a 1-2 mile radius although it hasn’t been ruled out.
More generally, Dr Dove suggested time-limited car parking would increase throughput during the day, but said any such scheme has to be seen to be “fair, equitable and transparent” in tackling the issue of people overstaying their parking time limits.
He added, “The aspects of clinics over-running and the consequent effect this may have on car parking times is a particularly sensitive issue, and we must assure users that at no stage would they be disadvantaged should such a situation arise.”
Several committee members also highlighted the need to work closely with Stagecoach to develop inter-hospital links suitable for both staff members and the wider public at appropriate times of the day.
A further report, which is expected to bring forward any measures deemed feasible, is likely to go before the committee in September.
While Fife is looking at promoting more sustainable ways of travel, their counterparts in Tayside have been doing likewise.
An NHS Tayside spokesman said, “As part of the Care to Save campaign, we encourage our staff to use alternatives to their own cars to get to their place of work such as public transport and lift-sharing, and we participate in the cycle to work scheme.
“We also offer a bus link service from PRI (Perth Royal Infirmary) to Ninewells for both patients and staff. Staff are also given the option to teleconference into meetings rather than attend in person as a way of reducing unnecessary journeys to other sites.”