Hospital parking woes could soon be over

Monday 12 March 2018

83 more parking spaces could be created at Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital.

A planning application has been submitted to get permission to create the spaces, with the Committee for Health and Social Care acknowledging the "pressure on car parking" at the PEH.

Pictured: The planning application submitted last week

HSC said it has been "actively working on the challenges around parking for many years" and a number of initiatives have "sought to ease pressure on parking" but the Committee is acutely aware that there are times when it is extremely difficult to park.

Some of the ways HSC has tried to alleviate the parking problems include: 

• 64 spaces were opened in 2015 when the new Oberlands Centre became operational
• A review of clinic times and locations has eased pressure on certain days and located clinics to other sites throughout our estate
• A review of space utilisation has changed spaces closest to the main buildings to non-staff parking i.e. patients and visitors
• More covered bike parking has been provided for staff and visitors at every entrance
• The bus service provided by CT plus ensures frequent journey options on routes to and from the hospital.

The planning application now submitted to try and create 83 spaces, follows on from an application lodged in early 2016 when Permission in Principal was granted by the then Planning Department for an additional area of parking adjacent to the Oberlands entrance to the PEH campus. The planning application in this week’s Development and Planning Authority’s publication list is to obtain approval for the detailed drawings that have been developed and also to obtain Building Control permission to move forward on these works.

HSC said a key strand of the future model for the provision of health and care in the Bailiwick – the Partnership of Purpose, "focusses on an integrated system which brings current providers closer together for the benefit of the public."

A spokesperson said: "This includes consideration of ways in which Islanders can access health and care needs in dedicated locations.  An option which is being considered, as part of this programme of work, is to enhance the range of secondary healthcare services located on the main PEH campus which could mean for example relocating Medical Specialist Group staff to the PEH site in the future.  

"Ensuring sufficient parking is a key consideration of this ambition. Any development of the PEH site to reprofile its current and configuration use would mean that decant space is needed to accommodate contractors engaged in such works, this is a further reason to enhance the parking as the permission sought seeks to achieve."

HSC said staff will continue to work on the challenges around parking at the hospital site, and try to ensure that any solutions are integrated into the island's active travel plans which are being devised across all States of Guernsey Services.