Hundreds sign petition over Raigmore Hospital car parking woes
A PROTEST petition against the parking chaos at Raigmore Hospital is gaining serious support.
Marion Breau, who uses the car park daily to visit an ill relative, started the petition over Christmas weekend after urging people not to take up one of the 900 free spaces unless they had legitimate business at the north’s biggest hospital.
She, like many others, believes some selfish drivers are parking at Raigmore and then getting on one of the frequent buses into town so they do not have to pay to park in the city centre.
The People Against Raigmore Parking Facility petition had attracted 856 signatures by Thursday morning, but after her Facebook post achieved 1900 shares, she was hoping to hit the 1000 signature mark.
Ms Breau said: "It must be costing the NHS money when people miss medical appointments because they are late due to the terrible parking situation.
"I spoke to one medical worker who told me she had to arrive in the car park at 8am to get a parking space so that she could start work at 9am.
"That is five extra hours that person has to put in each week before she starts caring for people.
"I have also helped poor souls desperately hunting spaces, and seen drivers blocked in because cars have been abandoned in the aisles.
"It is really bad. Can you imagine what it would be like if you were called at short notice to the hospital to sit with a dying relation and you couldn’t find a parking space in time?"
NHS Highland says it has no evidence of people using the hospital’s car park as an illicit park-and-ride. But it conceded it had reached saturation point and more space was being looked for.
This week the Inverness Courier revealed how local MP Fergus Ewing is urging NHS Highland to do something about the long-running parking problem at Raigmore, and quickly.
An NHS Highland spokeswoman said: "We recognise that parking at Raigmore Hospital does need to be addressed. We are actively costing a number of options which will allow us to increase space on the site.
"In addition, as part of a wider service redesign, it is also critical that we look at what services do not need to be provided at Raigmore and which would allow us to reduce the hospital footfall.
"For instance, our Transforming Outpatients project is looking at different ways of dealing with appointments, including video conferencing and reviewing return patient appointments, so patients don’t have to travel unnecessarily, which in turn will reduce pressures on parking."