Parking pain: nurses to fight fees to park at Redland Hospital

Staff at a busy hospital south of Brisbane, where parking has always been free, will be forced to pay as much as $1900 a year to park at their place of work when a new multistorey carpark opens next month.

Parking fees will be introduced at Redland Hospital next month when a new multi-storey carpark opens and staff will also be charged.

Staff at a busy southside hospital will be forced to pay to park at work when a new multistorey carpark is expected to open next month.

Redland Hospital, at Cleveland, will charge staff a daily flat $7.95 to use the new carpark and the existing free carparks, angering nurses who currently park for free.

It means staff rostered on five days a week could pay as much as $1900 a year to park to go to work, taking into account an average of four weeks’ a year annual leave.

The staff fee equates to a 38 per cent discount to the soon-to-be introduced public parking charge of $13 a day.

Parking at the hospital will cost $3 for the first hour, in line with other state government public hospitals in the southeast.

Fees then rise $2 for every hour after that up to four hours, when the fee hits $9.

It will cost $11 to park for four to six hours with the maximum flat daily fee of $13 kicking in after six hours.

Staff will have the option of paying for parking fortnightly via salary packaging or direct debit.

Parking at Redland Hospital at the moment is free and staff say they don’t want to pay $7.95 a day. PHOTOS: JUDITH KERR

The fees raised concerns with some staff, who have been using a free staff carpark across the road from the hospital, or parking for free on the street or in an unlevel gravel carpark.

Concerns included having to pay a monthly or annual fee for the multistorey parking, even if the employee was not at work or off sick.

But Bayside Health Service acting executive director Brett Bricknell said the fees were in line with parking at all similarly-sized public hospitals.

He dismissed claims that staff would be charged for parking when they were on annual leave and said the discounted rate took into account all annual leave periods.

In line with parking fees at other Metro South Hospitals, staff parking fees will be based on an annualised rate divided into 26 fortnightly payments.

“As with most large hospitals in southeast Queensland, there will be a cost for parking on the Redland Hospital campus when the multi-level car park opens,” Mr Bricknell said.

“Fees are set by the Queensland government and are designed to be as fair and reasonable as possible with discounts available for staff, as well as eligible patients and their carers.

“For this reason, fortnightly payments will continue during staff leave. Special consideration will be given to staff who need to take maternity leave, long-term sick leave and long service leave.”

Nurses Professional Association of Queensland president Marg Gilbert said members of her alternative union had been threatened with disciplinary action if they spoke out against the parking fees.

“Nurses are burnt out and shouldn’t be financially disadvantaged for turning up to work,” she said.

“Nurses are leaving the profession in droves and Redlands Hospital risks further losses as members indicated free parking as a contributing factor to choosing their workplace.

“Our members would like answers as to why executive and senior doctors are exempt from parking fees while nurses are required to cough up for parking, even while on annual leave and sick leave.”

Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union secretary Beth Mohle said her union would continue to liaise with members and Metro South Hospital and Health Service officials over the new car park.

Redland Hospital staff can apply for a parking pass based on a set number of days per fortnight, and a pay-as-you go option is available for those on casual contracts.

The multi-level car park (P1) has enhanced safety features including CCTV, duress points and lighting.

The Safety and Response team for Redland Hospital will monitor the car park and if staff are concerned about walking to their vehicle at night they can request a security escort.