IT'S a long walk to the Bathurst Hospital when you can't get a park close by and you've got a sick child, according to local mum Lisa McFarlane.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"The days that she's [Mrs McFarlane's daughter] really sick and vomiting are the worst days," she says.
"I'm carrying her with a vomit bag and she's saying, mum, do we really have to go to the hospital? Why do we have to park so far away?"
Mrs McFarlane told her story as Member for Bathurst Paul Toole marked the milestone of more than 2000 signatures on his petition pushing for more car parking as part of the looming $200 million redevelopment of Bathurst Hospital.
The MP fears a big boost to parking has quietly disappeared from the redevelopment plans and has pointed to the loss of current spaces under the $200m project as it now stands.
Health Infrastructure, for its part, has previously told the Western Advocate that "improved parking, both on campus and in the surrounding streets" remains part of the $200m plan, but the number of spaces required has yet to be determined.
Health Infrastructure also says improved car parking for the redevelopment "is being planned to support the new main entry on Mitre Street".
Mrs McFarlane said her five-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia 19 months ago.
"We spent eight months in hospital down in Sydney for treatment," she said.
"We've luckily been able to come home for the last 12 months, but she has to use the facilities here at Bathurst Base Hospital every fortnight.
"I'm having to park blocks away and walk her because her legs do not like to walk up hills; she lost all mobility in her legs due to treatment.
"So I'm parking blocks away, carrying her to the hospital to get to the treatment that she needs."
Mrs McFarlane said she is six months post-surgery, "so I shouldn't be actually carrying a 20-kilo child up a hill".
"It makes me angry that no-one's listening about the need for parking," she said.
"Unless you're in the situation and you have to try to find a park every fortnight or every day, you don't understand."
In a typical visit to the hospital, Mrs McFarlane said, "you're driving around the hospital grounds hoping that there's a car park in there and then there could be a car park in there, but it's a 30-minute car park and appointments take longer than 30 minutes".
"Then you drive back out again and you go underneath and there's no parking underneath and you come out on to the street and you hope that you can find a park close by, but you're blocks down the road.
"You're down at the tennis courts or blocks away."
MP Mr Toole launched his car parking petition about a month ago and he says the plan is to "keep running it over the next few months".
"We've had some terrible stories," he said. "We've had people that actually can't get out of their driveways [because they live near the hospital].
"We've got people who are sick. We've got elderly people. They all find it hard to get to the front doors of the hospital."
The MP is adamant that extra car parking was part of the $200m project when he announced it back in mid-2022, when the Coalition was still in government, and has previously said that he understood there were plans for a car park as far back as the last redevelopment at the hospital.
Names game
WEST Bathurst's Kent and Dianne McNab - best known for their long, dogged campaign to get a roundabout built near the Assumption School - have been collecting signatures for the hospital car parking petition.
"Everybody says it: we can't find a park," Mr McNab said of the reaction he had been getting as he took the petition around. "They want more parking, not less."
He said momentum was building with the petition and a clear message was being sent to the NSW Government.
'On the right path'
AS for Mrs McFarlane, she said her daughter is "doing really well" as she faces her health challenges.
"She's on the right path and the treatment's going really well," Mrs McFarlane said.
"But we've still got a long road."
Health's say
THE Western Advocate has previously 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."
