Blacktown Hospital opens $18 million car park
A Blacktown Hospital cancer patient said the state’s parking concession ‘relieved stress’ as new $18 million car park is opened.
Blacktown
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Finding a park at your local hospital is often an unwanted anxiety for people already doing it tough.
And paying a high fee for that parking spot adds insult to injury, according to Blacktown Hospital prostate cancer patient John Riffel.
“Apart from the stresses of dealing with my illness, there are unavoidable travel and transport costs associated with my care,” Mr Riffel said.
Mr Riffel was able to take advantage of the state government’s hospital parking concession scheme, which he said saved him $220 over eight weeks of treatment.
“Having one less thing like parking fees to worry about is a big relief.”
On Thursday he joined Premier Gladys Berejiklian to officially open a new 400-space car park, built as part of Blacktown Hospital’s $700 million expansion.
The $18 million multi-storey car park is the first hospital facility in NSW to feature red and green navigation lights to help drivers find a spot.
Its opening brings the total number of available spaces on hospital grounds to more than 1600
.
“Patients need and deserve accessible, affordable parking and that’s precisely what (the government) has prioritised as part of the almost $8 billion building boom across our hospital facilities,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
“We have invested $42 million in improving parking for western Sydney at Blacktown and Mount Druitt hospitals since 2014.”
More than 110,000 patients and carers have been offered extra concessions since the hospital parking scheme began in NSW.
It provides free parking for up to three hours and is available to people including pensioners, holders of a health care card, and carers and patients attending ongoing treatment.
Riverstone MP Kevin Conolly said the scheme had been welcomed by locals: “as it eases cost pressures on families at a time when they are already under stress.”