Bosses at Bristol’s biggest hospital have scrapped plans to create a new system for parking for thousands of members of staff, after a massive backlash from people who work there. The North Bristol NHS Trust, which runs Southmead Hospital, said it has decided to pause the planned changes, just weeks before they came into force, because of a ‘number of concerns and potential issues’, had been raised by staff.
Bristol Live first revealed the backlash earlier this month, after the North Bristol trust said it had to do something because too many members of staff had parking permits and there were not enough spaces on site. That meant anyone working a late shift, or a shift that didn’t start until mid-morning, had to park in the streets around Southmead Hospital – and the later the shift the further people had to walk back to their cars in the dark.
The hospital said it had 1,500 parking spaces for staff, but 6,000 members of staff had parking permits to get into the car parks. It decided back in the late summer to create a new system which would allocate a reduced number of 12 different kinds of parking permits based on a range of criteria, including how far someone lived away from the hospital, what kind of shifts they do and whether they could get there easily on public transport.
The new system was due to go live in early November, but as October began and the hospital began the process of issuing parking permits to successful applicants – and turning down permit requests from those who unsuccessful applied – there was uproar among staff.
One member of staff even told Bristol Live that the managers of entire departments and wards were expressing concerns they might not be able to operate if their staff weren’t given permits, and some members of staff even said they were thinking of quitting their jobs because of the situation.
In a message to staff, NBT bosses signalled a U-turn. One message said: “In recent days a large number of serious concerns have been raised on the fundamental issue of using public transport travel time as the primary eligibility factor and the effectiveness of the independent algorithm being used to assess it.
“To those of you who have experienced difficulty or distress as a result please accept our sincere apologies and be assured that your concerns have been fully heard.
“As such, after careful consideration, including of the potential impact on patient safety and staff wellbeing, the Trust will not move forward with the eligibility aspect of the new policy at this stage,” they added.
It means people who had parking permits already will likely receive them again, leaving the trust back to square one in trying to limit the number of staff trying to park in the car park.
“We need to be open with you all that this comes with significant drawbacks and does not address the underlying issues with staff parking at Southmead Hospital,” staff have been told.
“Not least that, as now, having a permit will continue to be no guarantee of being able to find a space, especially during peak periods,” they added.
A spokesperson for North Bristol NHS Trust said the new system had been ‘paused’, and bosses will continue to look at how best to tackle the issue. “At North Bristol NHS Trust we are committed to ensuring the very best parking solution possible for our staff,” a spokesperson said.
“However, as with NHS sites across the country this is highly challenging and requires balancing a large range of requirements, circumstances and needs.
“Given this, the views and opinions of our staff are incredibly important to us. As such, following the raising of a number of concerns and potential issues, we have decided to pause planned changes to the eligibility criteria of our staff parking system pending further review. However other key aspects, including additional support for twilight shift workers, unrestricted access out of hours and enhanced security measures will be going ahead,” she added.