STAFF at Great Western Hospital could be banned from the site’s car park for four days a fortnight if new parking proposals are given the green light.

In a staff consultation document obtained by the Adver, Great Western Hospital NHS Trust bosses say suggestions to increase the size of the car park have been ruled out.

Instead the document proposes a cap on how frequently staff may use the car park, restricting parking to just six days per fortnight.

The proposal means that for the remaining four days staff will be forced to find alternative transport or parking.

The hospital will scrap paper permits and introduce an automatic number plate recognition system, which will log permit holders’ number plates.

The hospital will give priority parking to those who are depended on for a clinic to run, such as consultants, who under the new proposal would have to pay £50 a month.

GWH is also hoping to resuscitate its park and ride scheme, which was mothballed at the beginning of the year due to lack of use by staff.

One staff nurse, who works on one of GWH’s busiest units, said: “Staff at GWH are in uproar over the increase in charges and the restrictions that could be applied.

The nurse, who asked not to be named, said she often finds herself working from 7am to 9pm with night duty shifts running from 8.15pm to 7.30am the following day.

She said: “On average I work five days a week and often provide extra shifts to cover sickness and annual leave.

“This proposed plan just doesn’t accommodate my variable working patterns.”

Another nurse, who was fined £35 after parking in a Community Nurse parking space because there was nowhere else available, said GWH’s park and ride scheme would not only add another hour onto the journey for many already overworked nurses but will put staff at risk returning to their cars after last shifts.

She also criticised the hospital’s proposed ‘30-minute Public Transport Zone’ meaning staff living within a 30-minute commute of the hospital may not necessarily be eligible for parking permits.

“This is the same hospital which told me I could walk there from Stratton when we had the snow because I wasn’t too far away,” she said.”

The report says that it is down to staff to ease the anxiety surrounding parking by re-assessing how they travel to and from work.

It says: “The car parking problems that are being experienced are long-running and regularly cause stress and concern for patients, visitors and staff.

“The problems reoccur on a regular basis and there is no realistic end in sight without a radical rethink about how we all travel to and from work.”

Staff will have the chance to have their say at a forum held at lecture hall one at the hospital this Friday at 4pm.

It will be followed by another forum on Tuesday at 4pm in lecture hall one, one on Wednesday at 2.30pm in lecture hall two and on on August 13 at 3pm in lecture hall one.

Mark Bagnall, director of estates and facilities at GWH, said: “We are currently consulting with staff on a range of options to reduce the pressure on staff car parking so that it is much easier for staff and patients to find a space to park.

“On some occasions members of staff are having to drive to the hospital more than an hour before a shift to wait for a space to become available.

“This is unacceptable and we need to find a permanent solution to the problems we are facing by looking at different options for staff to get to and from work.

“These options include looking at better public transport links for staff, supporting car sharing and looking at the possibility of allowing some staff to park on the hospital site for six days in every 10 (during the other times staff will be asked to find alternative ways to get to and from work such as using public transport or car sharing).

“This consultation follows discussions with staff earlier in the year and the options being discussed reflect the feedback from colleagues across the hospital. No decision has yet been made and we continue to actively seek the views of all staff.

“We do recognise this is a difficult issue and that there is no perfect solution available to us which allows every member of staff to park at the hospital when they need to.

“By looking to reduce the demand for car parking at busy times we will be making it easier for both patients and staff to park, particularly staff who start their shifts later in the day.”