This is how Sheffield hospital bosses are dealing with the Northern General's 'nightmare' parking
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Patients staff and neighbours told The Star about their concerns over parking at the hospital, based on a 100-acre site at Fir Vale, with many calling for a multi-storey car park to be built to tackle the problems of getting there.
Andrew Jones, facilities director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the hospital always aimed to support staff, patients and visitors by utilising our its parking capacity as effectively and fairly as it could.
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Hide AdHe said: “This includes controlling access at key times of day to ensure patients can arrive for AM and PM appointments, and reviewing usage on a regular basis to enable us to manage parking accordingly. Car parking staff also check that users are indeed staff, visitors or patients wherever possible.
“We look at every opportunity to increase car parking and have created more spaces in recent years.
“Our hospitals and are served by multiple bus routes, and we work closely with the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive which has produced a comprehensive guide to these services. We also provide the H1 shuttle bus service which runs between the Northern General and Royal Hallamshire hospitals at regular intervals, and encourage the use of park and ride services.
“In addition to this we encourage active travel to our sites, and have recently installed a new secure cycle shelter at the Northern General with space for a further bikes. We also employ a dedicated Travel Plan Coordinator who can work with visitors to help them plan their journey and assess the transport options available.”
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Hide AdStaff told how parking issues at the site made of diffcult for employees to get to work on time, while patients described driving to the hospital hours before their appointments to make sure they were be able to park, describing parking as a ‘nightmare’.
Meanwhile, people living on streets near to the hospital have complained of staff parking on their streets from early in the morning until late at night, preventing them parking near their homes.