Milton Keynes hospital staff '˜have to leave 45 minutes early to park'

Patients in and out of hospital are being hit by the ongoing saga of parking at MK Hospital.

The scheme to build a new entrance at Milton Keynes – and the reduction of staff parking spaces while the work takes place – has long been a source of contention.

And this week the Citizen spoke to staff who said that:

*Patients are arriving late to appointments because they cannot get a space;

*Staff have to leave home up to 45 minutes early simply to get to their jobs on time;

*Community nurses who have to leave the site are losing “hours” every week when they return to hospital and cannot park their vehicles.

One member of staff, who asked not to be named, said: “The hospital bosses keep talking about this lovely new entrance we’ll eventually have, but that’s years away.

“Right now it’s a mess, and nobody wants to face up to it.”

A hospital spokesman admitted that there had been high demand for parking in recent weeks, but stressed that this varied through the day.

Deputy chief executive John Blakesley said: “We have not reduced staff parking on site – in fact with extended car parking in the cardiology car park and the Peartree Bridge car park, we have more parking on site than before.

“With an increasingly busy hospital, which we are developing to make sure we have more and better services for local people, it is inevitable that there will be periods of disruption and some inconvenience – despite the tremendous amount of work we are doing to keep that to a minimum.”

Two weeks ago the hospital’s board of directors approved the principle of building an additional multi-storey car park.

These plans will be developed with MK Council.