Build a multistorey car park?

I write in response to your article in last week’s Observer regarding hospital staff parking.

It is understandable that there must be some control over the requirement for onsite parking but it seems clear to me that the way this has been handled is not what one would have expected of the adminstrators in the NHS.

It all seems to have been done at very short notice, reminiscent of the way the P&O ferry company notified its staff of their immediate redundancies.

I have read on social media of instances of employees having to drive from Portsmouth, Gosport and even the Isle of Wight to a park and ride at Fontwell five miles to the east of Chichester and I have no reason to doubt their claims.

This is simply not on. I see a couple of things that could be done to alleviate the situation, one of which could be implemented reasonably quickly and with little expense, the other taking somewhat longer and would cost money.

The easiest and least expensive to introduce would be home working for those in administrative posts which could be made the normal rather than the exception.

I know of a person who has had the opportunity on a couple of all too brief occasions to work from home. By being diligent in working their full hours they did at the office and without interruption, they have increased their output markedly. This can only be of benefit to employee and employer alike.

My second thought, the expensive one, is this. The car park on the north side of the hospital has quite a large footprint, so has the thought been given to building a multi-storey car park on the site to echo the existing footprint?

It may sound a rather drastic action to take but the difficulty in parking could result in many resignations which the NHS can ill afford.

With the work the NHS has put in during Covid, this is hardly the way to thank them.

JOHN DAVIDSON

St Mary’s Close Lavant