Staff working at the Royal Sussex during the day are being told to use a new park and ride scheme near Brighton Marina to free up more spaces for patients and their visitors.
Huge queues have been forming along Eastern Road in recent weeks as the car park struggles to cope with demand.
The site is also attracting extra traffic from contractors who have now begun work on a major redevelopment of the site.
From Monday, 14 March, staff with parking permits who normally park in the hospital’s multi-storey car park arriving on weekdays between 6am and 5pm will instead use a satellite parking service close to Brighton Marina.
The 100 space parking facility will operate between the hours of 6am and 10pm on week days. It is about a ten minute walk or a five minute bus ride from the hospital.
Amanda Fadero, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals CEO said: “It is right and proper that patients and carers get priority for parking at the hospital.
“A staff member parking for a shift will take up a space for an entire day. Patients tend to park for shorter periods. For each staff parking place we move to the satellite facility we will be making parking available for up to four patients on site, each day.
“The satellite parking site we have secured for staff is serviced by a two-way shuttle bus which will run throughout the day up to 10pm at night.
“Staff who arrive at work between 6am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, will have to use the satellite parking facility. We will reserve a number of on-site parking spaces for staff who need to get to the hospital in an emergency.”
The scheme will be reviewed after two months and any necessary changes made.
What good idea
Absolutely disgusting ,I work at the hospital and I do not have a permit to park n the car park so this means I will have to look for alternate parking in the area which is a joke. Everyone nos it’s impossible to get a space anywhere near , I work nights so I will have to walk from the marina to the hospital at 10 pm of a night and then first thing in the morning ,whoever thought this w a good idea just haven’t thought about the staff at all ,I can see myself looking for anther job …way to go whoever decided to do this ….
I work up there as well..and last I was told if you don’t have a permit you can park in there as usual??
I work nights as well and I don’t have a permit so that doesn’t entitle me to park and ride so lease telle where I will be parking ?..
Great idea + obv night staff do not have to use this service as if you read it properly the marina parking is until 10 pm + also provides a bus that staff can use.
Yet again the staff have not been considered or involved in what is an absolute rediculus idea. Community staff are going to have to be shuttled up to 4-5 times a day reducing the number of visits they are able to undertake which will inturn effect the service….well done!
The whole plan of expanding the hospital…’Centre of Excellence’ on this site was totally ludicrous right from the start. Weall knew parking was a major issue for staff, patients and visitors, but would the powers that be listen? NO! It will ALWAYS be a 19th Century site. Does the CEO have to park her car at the Marina satellite car-park, because I’m sure she must just work between the stipulated hours? I am assuming weekends are not included? What happens to the staff that end up staying on beyond their booked shift…when there is a lack of staff (quite often)or for those on call after their shift in theatres, when they don’t get out the door till midnight? The whole plan should NEVER have been passed and granted money….
The car park holds 400 spaces, the off site parking hold 100 spaces, therefore as a permit holder you are unlikely to get a space at this off site car park and will end having to find street parking miles away from the hospital. A shuttle bus runs every 15 min between 4-6pm then every 30mins 6-10pm – it takes 15 mins to walk so waiting around for a shuttle bus that is likely to be full would be pointless. At least run them more frequently please. It really frustrates me that as a BSUH employee with young children that I my journey time to and from will be further lengthened due to this new arrangement. I agree that patients should have priority parking but please consider the difficulties staff have too!
I think it’s disgusting, the “higher earners” pay just under £400 per year for their permit. Many staff live over an hour away, yes that’s their choice. Shifts are 12.5hr per shift at the least as lots of staff stay way past the end of their shift, not their choice but because they care. Having an extra journey on top of their hard day to get to their car is simply putting them over the edge. How about safety and security? At the bus stop waiting for the shuttle, will there be security cameras making sure the hard working dedicated staff are safe? I wonder how many staff will leave because of this? You are not taking care of the staff.
As I recall, there was a big public consultation years ago about whether to expand the current site or move the hospital out of town. We, the public, overwhelmingly voted to keep the hospital in the city. So there’s no point griping about that now.
I work at the hospital one day a week and have never even attempted to park on site. I took one look at the car park queues! I cycle or catch a bus. We had better get used to a world without cars or climate change will make our planet unable to support human life. That’s your grandchildren I’m talking about.