FURIOUS staff at a scandal-hit Glasgow hospital claim they are being kept late for shifts and crucial meetings due to a lack of parking permits.

Medics at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Govan have raised concerns over the reintroduction of managed parking controls at the site, saying it is causing major disruption to working patterns.

Staff are now calling on NHS bosses to make more permits available for hard-working doctors and nurses who told the Glasgow Times they are becoming ‘stressed out' by having to scramble to find somewhere to leave their vehicle after arriving for work.

One source said: “There's not enough parking permits available for the number of staff at the hospital. It’s a case of first come, first served and the permits are difficult to get unless you are senior management.

“If you arrive at the hospital after 7 or 8am then there’s next to no free spaces left. Hard-working staff are stressed out because they are having to spend extra time driving around looking for a space while they should be preparing for a busy shift. It’s making people late for their jobs and for important meetings. It needs to be sorted out."

Another source, a long-serving nurse, added: “Our only option is to try and get to the hospital extra early before starting a shift. This means a nursery or school drop off is now impossible unless you are willing to pay to use the car park across the street. It hits low paid staff the most and it is difficult to get public transport when you are working a 12-hour shift and sometimes finishing after-dark. It has become a complete fiasco."

The staff anger comes just weeks after NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde decided to issue fixed penalty notices to patients and visitors who spend more than four hours in free car parks - despite the Scottish Government saying it was scrapping parking charges at all of the country's hospitals.

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Bosses reintroduced parking attendants at all Glasgow hospital car parks earlier this month after Covid restrictions were reduced and patients able to receive more visits.

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “We understand that some staff have expressed concerns around the reintroduction of managed parking controls across a number of NHSGGC sites from June 1. 

"These measures have been brought in to ensure patients, visitors and staff have fair access to designated spaces and to allow traffic to be managed safely during peak times.

"There have never been car parking charges at the QEUH and since 2020, parking at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary has been free, which as well as resulting in the end of parking charges, allowed unrestricted access outside of peak traffic hours and this will not change.  

“During peak times we operate a fair usage policy of a maximum stay of four hours for patient and visitor spaces, this is to mitigate against the misuse of spaces, particularly at our city centre sites, by people who are not using the hospital. The majority of patients and visitors do not require more than four hours for parking, so this does not affect the majority of people, however, where more than four hours are required, arrangements can be made.  

“Only where parking has exceeded four hours, a car has been parked out with a dedicated space, or in an unsafe manner, would an unauthorised penalty notice (UPN) be issued. The maximum stay policy does not apply to any staff spaces and staff are free to park there for the entirety of their shift. Each site provides an allocation of staff parking which is split between permit and non-permit spaces."

The health board also say that staff have access to a dedicated NHSGGC Travel Planning team, who provide travel planning guidance and support to staff on a wide range of alternative travel planning options and active travel initiatives including personalised travel plans, as well as inter-site staff shuttle bus services on a Monday to Friday.

 NHSGGC says staff also have access to a fleet of pool cars when required to travel between sites as part of their work commitments.

Their spokesperson added: “There are a total of 3,685 car parking spaces currently at QEUH. Dedicated staff parking accounts for more than 1,500 of these spaces, which is more than 41 per cent. 46 per cent of staff spaces are available for people who do not hold a permit. For staff who hold a blue badge, they may also park in the dedicated blue badge spaces.”