MP Paul Toole fears a big boost to car parking has quietly disappeared from the $200 million Bathurst Hospital redevelopment and patients are instead going to be trudging up the Victoria Park hill.
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Health Infrastructure, though, says "improved parking, both on campus and in the surrounding streets" remains part of the plan, though the number of spaces required has yet to be determined.
Mr Toole says a substantial increase to parking on the hospital precinct land was part of the project when he announced the $200m in funding back in mid-2022, though it was yet to be specified where the new spots would be built.
But having attended one of the recent information sessions on the redevelopment, Mr Toole says he is increasingly concerned that the focus is being put on "award-winning architectural designs" at the expense of extra car spaces.
"People might not think that a car park is a sexy part of the project, but it's a much-needed part of the hospital redevelopment," he said.
He also said just over 40 car spots inside the hospital grounds on the Mitre Street side are set to be replaced by greenspace as part of the project, making the problem worse.
Meanwhile, as the redevelopment gets ready to rev up at Bathurst, a $30 million multi-storey car park, providing more than 350 new spaces, has been open at Dubbo Hospital since mid-2022.
The Western Advocate contacted Health Infrastructure about the car park concerns.
"The NSW Government has committed $200 million towards the Bathurst Hospital redevelopment, which will deliver enhanced access to a range of clinical services available at the hospital for patients, staff and the community, including improved parking both on campus and in the surrounding streets," a Health Infrastructure spokesperson said in a statement.
"The planning process is continuing and the number of spaces required and location of staff, visitor and patient drop-off and longer stay parking spaces will be determined through the statutory planning process, which is expected to be completed in 2024.
"Improved car parking for the redevelopment is being planned to support the new main entry on Mitre Street, the existing entry and emergency department, while also enabling the provision of greenspace for the benefit of patients, staff and the community.
"Traffic and parking design is being informed by factors including demand, clinical and workforce planning and staff and community consultation, alongside statutory planning requirements."
The spokesperson said consultation is continuing with groups including Bathurst Regional Council, Transport for NSW and Bathurst Health Service staff.
Will only get worse
Mr Toole said the current Bathurst Hospital parking struggles to accommodate the demand, so it will only get worse as the facility gets bigger.
"I hear stories all the time of people who tell me that they have to park blocks away from the entrance to the hospital," he said.
"These are people who are elderly, these are people who are frail.
"By the time they get to the front doors of the hospital, they're completely exhausted.
"It's the same stories with mums that have got kids with broken arms or broken legs; little kids in prams.
"By the time they push up and down a hill to get to the front door of the hospital, they're exhausted."
Money matters
In the weeks after the NSW Coalition lost the last state election, Mr Toole told the Western Advocate that the hospital redevelopment needed to be done once and done right and, if that meant allocating more money to the project, then so be it.
He repeated that call this week.
"At the end of the day, if we have to go and ask for another $20 million to build a multi-storey car park, that's exactly what we should be doing," he said.
"We shouldn't be doing this [increasing the car parking] at a later date. It should all be redeveloped at the same time.
"You cannot go and disrupt a hospital as part of a redevelopment over the coming years and then decide, in years to come, that we're going to build a multi-storey car park.
"It should all be done at the same time."
He said he, if he was still in government, would be "considering a multi-storey car park down on the bottom of Durham and Mitre streets, which would then be able to bring people up so they had flat access into the entrance of the hospital".
Mr Toole said he wanted to emphasise that he liked the services, the plan and the design for the $200m hospital redevelopment, but didn't want extra car parking to be considered expendable.
"You can say that you're going to have more public transport to the front door of the hospital, but people that are sick aren't going to be using public transport to get dropped off at the front door," he said.
Health Infrastructure says community consultation on the hospital redevelopment is underway.
Residents are also able to have their say on the schematic design by participating in an online survey or by contacting the project team directly via bathurstredevelopment.health.nsw.gov.au, email HI-Bathrust@health.nsw.gov.au or phone 9978 5432.
