The monster car park for Woden (at the hospital)

If it’s really such a big carpark, it’ll become a de-facto park n ride for southsiders heading to civic.

radonezh said :

sepi: no offence, but which is more important: health services or parking?

It’s not an either/or argument. BOTH are needed.

Following the ‘what is more important …’ argument, we wouldn’t bother having community festivals or fixing up street lamps because, ‘what’s more important …’

The fact that the money is coming out of the health budget is really neither here nor there, the cost will undoubtedly be factored into the health budget when the money is divvied out.

Nothing wrong with a decent investment in long-term infrastructure I say. If only they’d planned the Gunghalin overpass with the same kind of long-term view.

gun street girl said :

What I understand is that much of it will simply be built upon – for example, Building 3 looks to be inheriting a few more storeys. I’m not sure what on earth they intend to do by moving ED again, and I sincerely hope they are not serious about turning the tower block into administration areas.

[gun street girl]

I thought up to half of some new sections were to be admin, but this sounds even more extreme. When did hospitals start being there for admin rather than patients?

Xbikee said :

… and that million dollar carpark ocross the road from the TCH is temporary, so WILL be torn up.

oh right, well that was a good old waste of money, i spose that came out of the health fund as well

Well if it stops hospital people taking up all the parking spaces at Garran Primary School then I’m all for it. The amount of times I’ve had to go in for a meeting at the school and found no free spots – very frustrating and I have heard from the teachers that they are almost at their wits end – if they don’t get to their place of employment by 8.15am then they can forget parking close by the school. Obviously there is a serious parking shortfall in Garran (or some people just can’t be bothered parking in the official spots). Don’t know about it coming from health funding though…

There will be portable [well, mobile anyway] operating theatres, and the current big help desk in the foyer will become a theatre … all exciting and very public know ledge. Just where the heli-go-copter will be landing is still under discussion… and that million dollar carpark ocross the road from the TCH is temporary, so WILL be torn up.

Xbikee said :

Yep …the ground level tarmac you can now see at TCH will be no more…it is ALL being built on, hence the NEED for a really really big carpark first and for after. Logic. The whole hosiptal except for the toweer is going to be rebuilt, plus the huge mental health facility. All this has been public know less for a long time folks.

What I understand is that much of it will simply be built upon – for example, Building 3 looks to be inheriting a few more storeys. I’m not sure what on earth they intend to do by moving ED again, and I sincerely hope they are not serious about turning the tower block into administration areas.

Xbikee: mental health facility I can understand – this place is full of nutjobs 🙂

Yep …the ground level tarmac you can now see at TCH will be no more…it is ALL being built on, hence the NEED for a really really big carpark first and for after. Logic. The whole hosiptal except for the toweer is going to be rebuilt, plus the huge mental health facility. All this has been public know less for a long time folks.

radonezh said :

gun street girl said :

Looks as though that might be slated for removal, hence the plans for a new mega multi-storey.

Yeah, well, I didn’t seen anything wrong with the existing ones.. they looked fine to me.

There’s nothing wrong with the existing ones – it’s just that there appears to be long term plans to push the hospital buildings out towards the existing multi-level car park (amongst other – let’s say questionable – ideas about expansion of the campus itself), hence, it’ll need replacement.

gun street girl said :

radonezh said :

They have another two or three storey parking lot around the other side of the hospital – always has a spot.

Looks as though that might be slated for removal, hence the plans for a new mega multi-storey.

No, most of that is reserved for “selected” staff car parking (don’t get me started on that issue), and yes I do believe it is slated for removal so that they can extend the hospital building further along. (Thus the reason for more staff car parking across the road).

sepi: no offence, but which is more important: health services or parking?

Still, parking is a problem there.

And I think 9 storeys is good – instead of building some wimpy little thing, and then having to re-do it in ten years. (Or one year, like their pay parking effort at the hospitals, that actually ended up costing us money).

Of course good health services would be nice too.

gun street girl said :

Looks as though that might be slated for removal, hence the plans for a new mega multi-storey.

Yeah, well, I didn’t seen anything wrong with the existing ones.. they looked fine to me.

Johnboy 14/11/08 …”The ACT remains last in the country for attending to Emergency Department patients within the recommended time”

….and the solution? Build a bigger car park!

.

radonezh said :

They have another two or three storey parking lot around the other side of the hospital – always has a spot.

Looks as though that might be slated for removal, hence the plans for a new mega multi-storey.

harvyk1 @ 22 : I know what this is like and it’s bad – but at the end of the day, it’s not life-threatening because you’d still have been able to get your wife to the emergency entrance with no problem. The problem is that the hospital is inadequately equipped and staffed to deal with issues that most capital city hospitals can adequately deal with (e.g. if your kid goes critical due to a bike accident or a serious illness and requires ICU.)

I personally have walked more blocks to hospitals in two major state capital cities than I care to remember, but each time, the hospital in question was able to deal with the problem locally and without having to airlift to another hospital elsewhere. I couldn’t care less if it means I have to walk some distance, or pay for parking, so long as they can receive adequate care immediately after I (or the ambulance) drops them off in emergency.

There is so much on-street parking in that area, and so much empty space. They have another two or three storey parking lot around the other side of the hospital – always has a spot. Heck, do you think you’d find it hard to argue your way out of a parking ticket if you parked illegally due to an emergency????

Is this 9 real stories or 4.5 stories like the City West carpark is? (where each level is split in half and the next platform is only half a storey higher from the last)

If only the government had actually done some planning and thought of this idea before the actual need arose so badly. Then they might have used the half a brain shared between the 5 ministers to build the carpark years ago and would have build another in the city on the some 6 or so car parks they sold for office blocks with inadequate parking.

9 Stories seems to be a little excessive. But something needs to be done. Last year when I took my wife to the hospital to deliver our first born, I then drove to hughes and got a family member to drive me back to the hospital . That night I got them to do the same in reverse. I figured (and probably rightly so) that there was little point in trying to drive around, by the time I had found a car park and got back to maternaty I’d have missed half the show. (Not something a soon to be Dad wants to miss out on)

rosie_bubz said :

…. why should a carpark be built from the health funds even it is for a hospital – that money should go towards nurses/carers pay, upgrading equipment, research etc, two, yes maybe a carpark for the hospital is needed, but isnt 9 stories, 1880 carparks a bit excessive, and three, we really do need a large carpark for civic, and wouldnt it be great if it was free!

Totally agree with you Rosie_bubz… spot-on! Clearly, none of the administration of this City have any children who have required critical care. And you know, this can happen to anyone. All it takes is a bad tackle in a school rugby match, or a spill on the ski slopes.

A few threads ago, a Canberra Hospital “insider” was publicly posting here in RA that there was not enough people in Canberra to justify an intensive care unit (not even a small one) for the children of Canberra. Now we have Stanhope’s govt saying they want to build a 9-storey carpark for a hospital that can’t even deal with serious, life-threatening illnesses of the children here? For such a family-oriented town this seems quite insane.

I’ve never even seen a 9 storey car park in a hospital, even those in big cities that have intensive care units for children, so this seems to me to be a massive waste of health budget money. Some dyed-in-the-wool Canberrans might say “stop complaining”, but this is a really important issue for ANY city, not just Canberra. If my child is critically ill in hospital, I don’t care if I have to catch a cab there or if I have to walk 3 blocks from where I parked my car to go visit her.. what I care about is that she’s being taken care of properly and that she’s in the same city (not 3 hours drive away).

Feathergirl, if you think you’re a bad mother you’re not.

: )

From the (rather ambitious and amusing) forward plans I’ve seen, they’re going to have to build another large multi-level car park on campus in order to replace the one that looks as though it’s destined to be encroached upon/dispensed with by more building.

poptop said :

Dear Feathergirl,

Regardless of whether they build the carpark or not, you are going to spend the foreseeable future crying your eyes out convinced you are a bad mother. It just comes with the territory.

Exactly what I was just about to post.

If light rail went past it, there would be no need for a car-park.

The health budget, just like the TAMS budget or any other Government department budget includes provision for capital works such as this carpark which are one off expenses, as well as provision for recurrent expenditure such as nurses, doctors and equipment. It is allocated funding for a specific purpose which won’t occure again. We could spend the allocated money on more doctors and nurses but the money would run out eventually. Besides, if you were to spend the money on more staff they would need to park somewhere as well.

The only alternative would be to sell the site off and let a private operator build the carpark – but that would mean they would have to charge for it and I don’t think any Government is brave enough to do that.

As to the point as to whether it’s needed or not, as others have pointed out parking at the hospital has been a problem for years and during the day it is often filled to capacity.

Okay, my bad, I didn’t RTFA and was misled by the phrase “free carpark for Woden”, which possibly should have said “free carpark for the Canberra Hospital”.

amarooresident said :

rosie_bubz said :

Great way to spend the health budget
Why not do something like this in civic

If you actually read the press release it is a car park for the hospital. Sheesh.

ok well thanks for pointing that out so politely, but for one, why should a carpark be built from the health funds even it is for a hospital – that money should go towards nurses/carers pay, upgrading equipment, research etc, two, yes maybe a carpark for the hospital is needed, but isnt 9 stories, 1880 carparks a bit excessive, and three, we really do need a large carpark for civic, and wouldnt it be great if it was free!

rosie_bubz said :

Great way to spend the health budget
Why not do something like this in civic

If you actually read the press release it is a car park for the hospital. Sheesh.

Dear Feathergirl,

Regardless of whether they build the carpark or not, you are going to spend the foreseeable future crying your eyes out convinced you are a bad mother. It just comes with the territory.

By the time your 36 week appointment rolls around, get someone [anyone] to drop you off at the door. Your pelvic ligaments will be loosening up and you can only take 15cm (6″)steps and they won’t be putting public toilets in that structure [you just know it].

If your great inseminator is around, give him an extra smack from me – just because.

Due to severe illness of family member I’ve spent quite a bit of time at the hospital of late.

All around the hospital there are flyers indicating that some billions of dollars are being spent on many upgrades/new facilities at the hospital. From memory it was for things like new mental health facilities etc (can’t really remember because I was more focused on the ill health of family member).

My impression when i heard about the proposed carpark was that it would most likely to be needed given all of the additions to the hospital.

Sorry this isn’t more concrete but thought I’d share what little infor I had.

Great way to spend the health budget
Why not do something like this in civic

A bigger carpark for the hospital sounds fantastic to me. I spent half an hour last week trying to find a spot so I could go to a midwifes appointment. Although, where they are building the carpark is still a bit of a walk for pregnant ladies to get to the maternity wing. Maybe they could run a shuttle for us waddling wide-loads?

It might just be me with my fresh memories of crying my eyes out while trying to find a park, convinced I’m already a bad mother for not being able to get to a simple midwife appointment on time, still fresh in my head but I want more car parks and irrationally I don’t care where they come from. If only they were built in time for my 36 week appointment…

You have to admit most people wouldn’t take a bus to hospital.

But yes – I think civic needs 9 storeys of parking too – ASAP.

So – no parking strategy for the city – but we have the cash to put a 9 storey carpark at the hospital. Geeezuss – can these guys decide if we are to be a car city or a public transport city and then stick to it.

Surely they can use some of the $90 mill they got for Sect 62 and put up at least 4 storeys worth of parking in City West. I’d even be happy to pay (unlike those at the hospital).

apparently coming out of the health budget

Well fine, as long as we can take some money out of the 9-storey carparks budget to pay for our healthcare needs.

“This is a really exciting initiative which shows that we are now on our way to building the health system that Canberra needs,” Ms. Gallagher said.

…I’m not saying it isn’t needed but come on. I know “this is a particularly unexciting but necessary ancillary step in our Health plan” doesn’t make for a good media grab but that sentence borders on a slap in the face to anyone who has experienced the truly poor state of our health system.

This isn’t even partisan, I’d be annoyed at a Liberal who said something like that. Speaking of which, I actually had to unsubscribe from the Liberal media release list for a while because reading Jacqui Burke’s mangled press releases quickly sent me into a very bad mood.

It’s probably there to support the Woden Green development that we can expect soon (the one with 2 10 story office buildings and nearly 1000 residential dwellings)…

It sounds fantastic.

Until you say it’s coming out of health funds…

Who cares, it’s over in the Southside! 🙂 That said – terric spending of health budget monies I’d say.