Parking green light for Raigmore Hospital

NHS Highland have today announced plans to create two overspill car parks at Raigmore Hospital following a funding award of over £500,00 from the Highland Health Board Endowment Fund.

The proposals also include for barrier controls for both entering and exiting the hospital car park.

Edward Mountain MSP, launched the Raigmore Parking Campaign: “I welcome the work of NHS Highland to secure additional and controlled parking for patients, visitors and staff at the hospital"

“Thanks to the Raigmore Parking Campaign this issue has been kept on the agenda and I am delighted that the hard work of the campaign’s supporters has resulted in the campaign achieving its aim"

"I would also like to pay credit to the overwhelming public support to my petition to resolve the issues at Raigmore. I’ve collected nearly a 1,000 signatures which shows the strength of feeling on this issue"

Planning permission is already in place to allow the car park extension which will create an extra 200 spaces at the Inverness facility.

David Park, chief officer for NHS Highland, explained that this funding approval is the result of a lot of work and planning from the Raigmore car park working group.

He said: “We have known for some time that the car park at Raigmore Hospital does not have the capacity to fully deal with the peak traffic that comes onto the site each day and are very sympathetic to the frustration that gives to our patients, visitors and staff"

“Our constrained financial resources are, quite appropriately, prioritised toward providing direct care to our patients and communities. I would like to thank the endowments trustees for their careful consideration of the proposal and very much welcome their support which will overall improve the experience of our patients and visitors.”

Mr Park added: “While being able to extend the car park is good news I recognise that this in itself won’t solve all the traffic flow issues, however it will support our wider plans on travel"

“Our roll out of NHS Near Me will also see fewer people travelling for appointments to Raigmore instead having their appointments via video conferencing or using tele-consultation. By doing this the number of people having to travel for an outpatient appointment will reduce as well as reducing the demand on the car park"

“Further engagement on the travel plan, encouraging car sharing and the use of public transport will also be part of these plans"