Lismore Base Hospital staff are set to rally today in protest at having to pay to park their cars while they work.
Under new parking arrangements, staff who are unable to park in the new car park at the hospital will have to pay more than twice as much to park in surrounding streets.
The paid parking will be introduced around the hospital precinct from July 4 to coincide with the opening of a new multi-story carpark.
Health Services Union NSW secretary Gerard Hayes will join the staff, along with Labor’s Page candidate Jangle Saffin at 1pm.
Mr Hayes said the new multi-storey carpark at the hospital would only provide 270 spaces for around 1,600 hospital workers.
‘Hospital staff who were able to secure a spot in the new car park will only have to pay $12 a week, but everyone else will be paying more than double that amount to park out in in the street,’ Mr Hayes said.
‘Why should lower-paid hospital workers such as cleaners and security staff be paying $5 a day when lucky doctors and specialists can get parking for just $2.40 a day?
‘Talk about a raw deal. The hospital and the Lismore City Council need to work this out and provide a better arrangement so that all staff are treated equitably.’
Mr Hayes said a system of providing vouchers for hospital staff to access street parking at the same rate as the new multi-storey car park would be a sensible solution.
‘Lismore City Council charges $2 to park in the CBD, so it looks like there’s an element of price gouging going on around the hospital.
‘The new car park is due to be opened soon, so the council needs to act in this situation now.’
When the issue was raised back in March, Lismore’s mayor Jenny Dowell urged administrators at the hospital to sort out a reasonable system for staff.
‘Council is disappointed and frustrated that the hospital administration has not responded to the genuine concerns of their staff to date, as we were assured that the hospital would manage these concerns if Council adopted a parking strategy in support of the hospital redevelopment,’ she said.
‘We have the parking needs of hospital staff, visitors and local residents to balance, and once again it appears the state government is wiping its hands and shifting responsibility for a problem to local government.
‘Now the hospital’s failure to provide adequate parking for their staff is presented as a council problem.
‘That is wrong, it wouldn’t wash with any other business, and the lack of action by hospital administration dealing with this matter to date is not in the spirit of partnership and cooperation that Council embarked on to facilitate the hospital redevelopment.’
The introduction of paid hospital parking is a disgrace.
The staff aren’t happy that they have to pay for parking, but what about the patients?
At least 30% of Northern Rivers adults are unemployed, students or receiving disability pensions. How will these people be able to afford to pay the parking fees if they need to visit their loved ones over an extended period? And what about chemotherapy, dialysis patients and the elderly?
The council and the mayor should hang their heads in shame for rubber stamping the hospital development. And thereby this act of bastardy. Shame on you for the additional distress paid parking will cause many people when they visit hospital. How do you sleep at night?
It’s disgusting that people who provide an essential service are exploited in this manner let alone the patients of which I am occasionally one.
Who do I send out to feed the meter when I’ve got a camera up my bum after waiting 2 hours for my procedure? Maybe the specialist can provide that service too, or the anaesthetist once he’s put me off to sleep.