Galway Bay fm newsroom – It’s being claimed that a quarter of a million euro HSE scheme to free up staff car-parking spaces at UHG for public use has failed to make an impact.
This week’s meeting of the Regional Health Forum West heard that the figure has been spent over the past six months on shuttle bus services for staff and patients at the hospital.
146 thousand euro was spent on a service from Merlin Park to UHG – while a further 88 thousand euro was spent on another shuttle from Dangan to the hospital.
The passenger figures show that while the Merlin Park scheme costs the HSE an average of €2 per passenger, the figure for the Dangan service stands almost seven times higher at €14.
Councillor Padraig Conneely questioned the value of the overall scheme – and suggested that staff should not be allowed park at UHG at all, and instead be forced to avail of the shuttle service.
Chief Operating Officer Anne Cosgrove defended the scheme, and said it was proving successful – but the overall plan to shift staff parking off-site would take time to be fully implemented.
Councillor Conneely says that despite the scheme, parking at University Hospital Galway remains at crisis point.