| Peter Bates, NHS Tayside chairman, asked retired Chief Constable for Tayside Police, Bill Spence, to independently chair a review which involved NHS Tayside, car park operators Vinci Park, Dundee City Council, patients and members of the public.
The group considered all car parking issues at Ninewells and unanimously agreed that priority parking nearest to the main entrance of Ninewells should be given to patients arriving by car, but that priority must be balanced with the needs of staff and visitors.
But Ms Cunningham is not totally convinced by some of the changes.
She said today, “The recommendations are very much a mixed bag.
“For example, while I welcome the plans to continue and extend the compassionate permit scheme, I am extremely concerned at the introduction of charges for disabled drivers.
“Disabled drivers, such as the constituents with chronic pulmonary disease I met recently, depend on protected disabled spaces near to hospital entrances as they have problems walking any distances. The answer is to provide more disabled spaces.
“The review report states disabled spaces make up 4% of the total number, which is apparently ‘in line with normal parking allocation’. The new proposals have been drawn up in an effort to try to address the congestion and improve parking availability for everyone.
“But this is a hospital we are talking about and surely common sense would dictate the proportion of disabled spaces should be well above the standard allocation.
“If use of disabled spaces is being abused, then that should be dealt with on an individual basis rather than a broad brush penalising of all users.
“I hope NHS Tayside will take on board concerns expressed as a positive contribution to their review.” |
