Ask any patient or visitor to Maitland Hospital what their major complaint about the facility is and the answer is likely to be the lack of parking.
Ask any resident who lives in the vicinity of the
hospital about their main gripe and they will most likely say it is the lack of hospital parking – which then flows onto the surrounding residential streets – that makes their lives a misery.
Finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Thanks to Health Minister Jillian Skinner and the Member for Maitland, Robyn Parker, parking at Maitland Hospital will be radically improved by a
multi-million plan to increase the capacity of hospital car parks across the state.
Work on a new car park at the hospital will begin on Monday and is expected to be finished by the end of September. And not before time.
For too long patients, their carers and visitors have had to endure long walks from suburban streets blocks away from the hospital.
And residents have been trapped in their homes by inconsiderate (and at times desperate) drivers parking across their driveways – and then copping parking infringement notices because they have been forced into doing the wrong thing by parking in no parking zones.
This announcement by Ms Skinner and Ms Parker is a win-win solution for all parties.
Maitland ultimately needs a new second public
hospital, and adequate parking for patients, visitors and staff would an integral part of such a facility.
Until that project becomes reality, measures must be taken to ensure that the current facility remains as
workable as possible.
This boost to parking will go some way towards
making that happen.
This is good news for Maitland.
