Hospital parking ‘nightmare’ unites councillors at fractured council

People are facing ‘impossible decisions’ when visiting an Oldham hospital with their loved ones because of a ‘nightmare’ parking situation. 

Visitors to Royal Oldham Hospital, are struggling to find parking due to the limited number of spaces outside the hospital, with some resorting to parking illegally as they rush their loved ones into A&E for urgent treatment.

Now local GP and Councillor Zahid Chauhan is calling for ‘everyone to work together’ to find a solution to the problem, which reportedly affects thousands of people in the borough. 

“If our hospitals can give people the world’s first IVF baby – why can’t we solve this parking issue?” Cllr Chauhan asked fellow elected members at a chaotic full council meeting on Wednesday, November 12. “Let me be clear this is not about bashing the hospital and their staff. Once again we are seeing the effects of systemic underfunding. This is yet another example of NHS services becoming a postcode lottery.” 

The councillor proposed bringing together the local authority, MPs, the local community and the hospital’s trust, Northern Care Alliance, to change parking arrangements by providing more A&E parking and eventually building a multi-storey car park. 

In a moment of rare solidarity in an otherwise fractured and quarrelsome meeting that had to be adjourned twice,  councillors across the political spectrum expressed their support for the scheme. Many shared their personal experiences of the problem. 

Lib Dem Councillor Dave Murphy said: “I have first-hand experiences. There’s nothing worse than bringing someone who’s hours away from death to hospital for urgent treatment to find there’s nowhere to park. 

“A close friend of mine] was in hospital for three months and each visit was a parking nightmare.”

And Oldham Group Councillor Shoab Akhtar shared a harrowing story of a relative who died in hospital as his brother, who had come all the way from Pakistan to be there in his final moments, was stuck in the car park with his nephew trying to find a parking space. 

Cllr Chauhan, (pictured below), who also had personal experiences of the problem during his late wife’s battle with cancer, added: “A mother told me that she was left driving around the hospital with her fitting child in the back seat because she wanted to take them to A&E but couldn’t find parking. And a member of staff said to me: ‘Dr Chauhan, every morning I worry about finding parking before my 12-hour-shift, and at the end of the day I have to walk 25 minutes back to my car.'” 

Others have shared with the Local Democracy Reporting Service how made the decision to park illegally just so they could make their appointment on time and simply ‘took the hit’ of the parking fine.

While no recent data is available yet, an FOI from 2021 showed that people were handed more than 8,172 parking fines were issued outside the Royal Oldham between 2020 and 2022, compared to just 543 outside Salford Royal in the same period.

The motion was discussed in the council’s brand new chambers at the JR Clynes building and passed unanimously. 

It is understood MP Jim McMahon is broadly supportive of the campaign, while Oldham’s two other MPs are yet to respond to requests for comment.
Steve Taylor, Chief Officer at The Royal Oldham Hospital, which is part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We know parking can be difficult during busy times and we are always trying to improve access for our patients, visitors and colleagues. 

“We’re exploring options for a new multi-storey car park on the hospital site, which needs to meet strict planning rules – especially where it may be overlooked by residential properties. 

“To help minimise congestion on our hospital site we are looking at improving staff travel with a shared lift scheme, encouraging more sustainable travel options and enabling colleagues to work remotely where possible.”