A PARKING crisis at Scotland's newest hospital forced health bosses to seek out car park spaces at a nearby shopping mall to cover the shortfall.
Intu Properties, the owners of Braehead shopping centre in the south side of Glasgow, were approached by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to ask whether they would be willing to hire out part of their commercial car park to the health board amid fears over a shortage of staff parking facilities at the new Southern General hospital.
The Braehead car park has capacity for 6,500 vehicles.
The deal never transpired, however, and the health board has since confirmed that a planning application to increase parking capacity at the New South Glasgow Hospitals site by 500 temporary places has been submitted to the council.
Peter Beagley, regional director of Intu Properties, said: "Several months ago we were approached by the health board to discuss the possibility of using car parking spaces at Intu Braehead on a temporary basis for staff at the new South Glasgow University Hospital.
"I indicated that it was something we would be willing to discuss further, although we've had no contact since then.
"If the health board wishes to take this suggestion forward, we would be more than happy to meet with them and discuss their proposal to see if it is workable."
The Royal College of Nursing has previously hit out over parking at the new £842 million super hospital, which is due to open in summer.
It warned that with 13,500 staff and visitors expected every day there will be a huge shortfall, and stressed that in many cases travel by car was the only available option for staff.
Anne Thomson, RCN Senior Officer for Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: "While the new hospital will be state of the art and should have a very positive impact on patient care, this could be completely undermined if staff can't get to work.
"It's unfair to expect staff to travel on public transport when for some this means travelling overnight in order to get to work in time for a 7am shift. And we have serious concerns about the safety of our members if they have to park away from the hospital site and then walk some distance to get to work and back to their cars at the end of the day.
"And then there's the issue of where about people visiting sick friends and relatives will park if they can't get a space.
"We've been lobbying the health board and the council about our concerns, yet, with 11 weeks to go they have still not provided us with information on bus routes or parking hubs."
The new facility brings together the existing Southern General Hospital, Western Infirmary, Victoria Infirmary and Mansionhouse Unit in the adult hospital. The new children's hospital will also replace the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill, with new teaching and research buildings also on site.
Staff numbers at the expanded site, just south of the Clyde Tunnel, will more than double from 4,790 to 10,561 from June.
While the new Fastlink bus scheme will run direct services from Buchanan Bus Station, Queen Street and Central Station to the Southern campus, campaigners have warned that a lack of public transport options for staff travelling north-south on the Clyde Tunnel route will cause gridlock when the new hospital opens.
A spokeswoman for NHS GGC said: "When the hospitals open later this year there will 2,500 parking spaces available with a further 1,000 opened by 2016
"To deal with a temporary shortfall in the number of spaces we have available for permit holders we have submitted a planning application to Glasgow City Council for an additional 500 spaces. We have also had discussions with a number of parking space providers."
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