South Glasgow Hospitals campus petition over parking
A group of nurses has collected thousands of signatures on a petition calling for more parking at a new hospital.
The petition urges the health board and city council to "resolve significant car parking and travel problems" for the new South Glasgow Hospitals campus.
The £842m site is due to open in the coming months.
The petition has been signed by 7,000 people and will be presented at health board meeting on Tuesday.
The South Glasgow University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children are expected to be fully operational by the middle of June.
The facility on the site of the Southern General will be home to several specialist services and up to 10,000 NHS staff will be based there when it is up and running.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) said its parking policy is "designed to ensure there is a balance for staff, patients and visitors getting parked on the site".
The board has said staff who need to use their cars for work will be issued with permits and a number of staff spaces will be available for those without a permit.
Anne Thomson, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) senior officer, said: "The new hospital is going to be state of the art and is fantastic news for patient care.
"However, if nurses and others can't get to work in time for their shifts because parking and public transport are inadequate, the care the hospital offers will be undermined.
"We have repeatedly pressed the health board and council for solutions to this, but with eight weeks to go, our members still don't know how they are going to get to work. And some will have to set off the night before their 8.30am shift if they are to get to work on time via public transport, which is clearly ludicrous."
Rosslyn Crocket, nursing director at NHSGGC, said: "The RCN need to understand that the parking policy is Monday to Friday between 8.00 am and 5.00 pm and nurses working at night and at the weekend will be able to park on site as is the case at the moment.
"Staff already make their way to work on the site and other hospital sites on public transport."
She said £5.2m was being invested as part of a plan to improve accessibility and that improved public transport routes, traffic controls and upgrading works to the local roads were being implemented.
She added: "The Scottish Government is also investing £40m in the new Fastlink scheme which will see, for the first time, direct transport from three main sites in the city centre (Buchanan Bus Station, Queen Street and Central Station) to the Southern campus.
"We have also been working closely with Glasgow City Council and a planning application has been submitted to increase the car parking capacity by a further temporary 500 spaces."