Patients attending appointments, or visiting relatives, are being asked to plan ahead due to temporary reduction in parking spaces at Cumberland Infirmary (CIC).
A number of exciting construction projects are taking place on site, which will be of huge benefit to both patients and staff. However, this unfortunately means that in the short term there will be increased pressure on car parking spaces.
The planned construction of the UTC requires closure of the A&E visitor car park and the temporary staff car park near to the helipad - resulting in a temporary reduction of 115 staff and visitor spaces:
- 27th January: The top half of the temporary staff car park near the helipad will be closed (losing 15-20 spaces), with the rest closing from the 3rd February (38 spaces in total).
- 3rd February/10th February: in order to create a temporary drop off opposite the A&E entrance, the very front row of the A&E car park will be taken out of use (22 spaces). This will allow the existing foot path to be replaced with drop kerbs and a drop off zone created.
- 10th February: 40 staff spaces in Car Park A will change to visitor spaces.
- 17th February: the rest of the A&E car park will be closed (77 spaces in total)
Impact on patients and visitors:
- To reduce the impact on visitors, we plan to increase the capacity of the main visitor car park by 40 spaces around 10th February (by reducing staff parking).
- From the 10th February visiting times will change temporarily to manage demand for spaces:
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- Surgical wards will be 1:30pm – 2:30pm (Aspen, Beech C, Hazel, Maple A/B/C/D)
- Medical wards will be 3pm – 4pm (Larch C, Beech A/B, Elm A/B/C, HASU, Willow A/B/C, AMU/Larch A/B, Heart Centre)
- There will be no changes to maternity services, paediatric services, end of life care. Other visiting will be at the usual discretion of the nurse in charge. Evening visiting is not affected.
- Once the Endoscopy construction works are complete, the visitor car park will permanently increase by a further 20-30 spaces. These extra visitor spaces are anticipated to come into use in March 2025.
This month (7th January) a planning application was approved to create a new 180 space staff car park at CIC. Work has begun to progress the build as quickly as possible, aiming for completion by June. This is welcome news, and will be a substantial improvement for staff who need to park on site, and reduce the amount of visitor parking used by staff and contractors.
Ultimately there will be an increased amount of spaces in the visitor car park, which we hope will address current over demand – particularly in the afternoons with the overlap of clinics and visiting to the wards.
We are continuing to also ask staff to find alternatives to parking on site wherever possible. One of the key options available to staff is the provision of free offsite parking permits a short walk away.
Chief Nurse Jill Foster said:
"We're aware that parking at the CIC site can be frustrating due to the limited number of spaces available, and that this is particularly stressful when you or a loved one are having health difficulties.
"In the long term we will have an increased number of visitor and staff parking spaces, and we are excited about the construction of our new Urgent Treatment Centre and the Endoscopy Unit, and the benefits these will bring. However, in the short term it does mean we will temporarily have less parking spaces.
"This is why we are urging people to plan ahead and, if appropriate, find an alternative to parking at CIC. For example, getting a lift to and from hospital, using public transport, or parking off site and walking to CIC. These options will not be suitable for everyone, and if you do need to park on site then please allow time to find a parking space - particularly at busy visiting times."
Updates on our projects can be found here: Building projects and innovation :: North Cumbria Integrated Care
