Southern District Health Board New Dunedin Hospital project team programme director Hamish Brown said the SDHB had been approached by the Dunedin City Council about the idea.
The DCC asked if there was interest in a pilot scheme regarding use of the car park for after hours and night staff workers, he said.
‘‘We have indicated Southern DHB would be interested in this and are awaiting next steps from the DCC,’’ Mr Brown said.
An SDHB spokeswoman said there had been work with the city council towards the pilot scheme for secure night-time parking for hospital shift workers before lockdown. It was expected to pick up again after the South returned to Alert Level 2, she said.
The health board was working through the detail of the New Dunedin Hospital site master plan and as part of that, the team would look at the longer term requirements, including parking, of the SDHB sites and the wider health precinct, she said.
A DCC spokesman said the two organisations were working together on parking.
‘‘DCC staff meet regularly with members of the New Dunedin Hospital project team, which includes representatives from the Southern District Health Board, to discuss the project, including its impact on the city’s transport network,’’ the spokesman said.
‘‘We also worked with the SDHB as it developed a new staff travel plan ... You will need to contact the health board for details of their plans.’’
Dunedin city councillor Andrew Whiley was critical last month of the SDHB for not using the former Wilson car park site for temporary parking for hospital staff.
Yesterday, he said he was aware of the proposal for the Great King St car park at the time.
But information he had seen indicated the proposal would not help staff who arrived for shifts when the car park opened to the public in the morning, he said.
‘‘When you hear of staff turning up an hour before their shift trying to find a car park, essentially making sure they can have a car park that is easily walkable to the hospital, you sort of go ‘Wow, this is a bigger issue than even I understood it to be’.’’
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‘Wow, this is a bigger issue than even I understood it to be’
That IS the problem with ideologues ( 1 : an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology. 2 : an impractical idealist ) !!!
There are definitely issues in the world but making working at the new hospital difficult, risky or monotoned will not fix any of them.
The same can be said for mobility and access around the city in general.
‘Wow, this is a bigger issue than even I understood it to be’. Doesn't Dunedin city councillor Andrew Whiley actually work for the DCC ? The nurses parking has been discussed for a number of years through this paper and yet he has just realised there is a problem ! Those nurses should all go on strike as of tomorrow and not go back until they have a signed parking agreement. Where would the world and in particular New Zealand be without them ? Get a life DCC Councillors and swap your free parking with a nurse that does so much more than you do and deserves a free park. I suppose the DCC will expect the nurses to pay to park if this new idea on parking in the parking building comes to fruition. To encourage more people to take up nursing the DCC should give the nurses as much free and accessible parking as they require at all times.
They won’t need parking for the new hospital following a poorly worded staff survey asking something like “would you ever consider using public transport or biking to work” essentially rigged to look like the entire workforce would be catching a public bus for every shift.
There is currently very little public parking available close to the hospital for people who start in the afternoon and finish late at night (paid or otherwise). There is almost no parking for outpatients or visitors either. So yes it takes about half an hour to find somewhere to park for afternoon shift even at $3 or $4/hr. There’s an option to park further away and risk walking further in the dark or ask security to almost halve their onsite workforce and escort you to your car, when they’re free to do so (leaving your colleagues exposed with less security). I can’t understand why Wilson’s aren’t champing at the bit to make a big new money printing machine. Every vacant lot in Christchurch was temporary paid parking during the rebuild and there was one for staff (but more expensive and further away than the public pop-up ones I recall)!