Frustrated Central residents will meet with Wagga Base Hospital administrators tomorrow to voice concerns about the lack of available car parking in their area.
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Residents have been alerted to further temporary losses of car parking spaces on the health campus as construction on the hospital's multi-storey car park gets under way.
A NSW Health flyer delivered in May via a letterbox drop has stirred fresh resentment among those living on Brookong Avenue and surrounding streets.
The flyer said new car parking spaces would be made available for Murrumbidgee Local Health District fleet vehicles "under the health services hub" at the hospital, and that construction workers would be provided off-campus parking by contractors.
Brookong Avenue resident Stephen Lawler said he and his neighbours tried to ring the contact number provided on the flyer, but found it disconnected.
His "disappointment" in NSW Health prompted him to call for an emergency meeting, which the hospital has now agreed to.
The Daily Advertiser asked the Murrumbidgee Local Health District how many additional car parking spaces around the hospital would be lost and for how long, but the MLHD didn't respond directly to this question.
Fellow Brookong Avenue resident Gordon O'Brien said parking had been an issue for the past four years of the Wagga Base redevelopment and that it was "getting past a joke".
"I feel sorry for the nurses. I would not come off shift at three in the morning [and walk to my car]. I've been accosted twice here," Mr O'Brien said.
Mr O'Brien and Mr Lawler both said they were concerned for the shift workers walking to their cars at night.
Wagga Base Hospital general manager Troy Trgetaric said the safety of staff was a "key priority" for the MLHD.
"An evening shuttle bus service operating since September 2020 is available to take staff to their vehicles in streets surrounding the campus," he said. "Security officers are available to escort staff to vehicles in streets surrounding the campus when required."
Amit Gupta, president of the Nurses and Midwives' Association NSW Wagga Mental Health Branch, suggested that parking fines be waived for nurses until the car parking works are completed in 2022.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard announced an 800-space multi-storey car park before the 2018 Wagga byelection, but earlier this year it emerged that it would only have 360 spaces.
When combined with two separate at-grade parking areas, the total number of spaces is 900.
Catie McLeod
Catie is a reporter at The Daily Advertiser covering health and Wagga City Council. You can contact her on c.mcleod@dailyadvertiser.com.au or 0475 819 651.
Catie is a reporter at The Daily Advertiser covering health and Wagga City Council. You can contact her on c.mcleod@dailyadvertiser.com.au or 0475 819 651.
