FRESH concerns have been raised over a controversial shake-up of hospital staff car parking.

Poole Hospital shift workers told they felt ‘demoralised and stressed’ after being told they could no longer park at the hospital and had to walk to park at Poole Stadium instead.

Meanwhile staff said managers were unaffected by the changes.

Now more angry hospital workers have come forward saying they have to park even further away – at the Dolphin Shopping Centre car park.

One full-time nurse with two children under five said she has 'grave concerns for her safety’ walking around the bus station and in the stairwells of the centre car park when it is dark.

She said: “I’m speaking out of sheer desperation. Due to constant security issues with service users in my area of work, I have grave concerns regarding my safety.

“I feel I’ve given so much to my work and my patients at times to the detrimental effect to my family and my health. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat but I’ve had little support from the trust.”

As previously reported, the cost of parking has remained at £30 despite the changes.

One 61-year-old nurse, who has to park at Poole Stadium, said : “I am distressed and disgusted by the callous way I’ve been treated.

“I’ve worked as a nurse at Poole Hospital for almost 20 years. I work long shifts and having to walk half a mile in the dark, particularly after a long shift caring for critically ill patients is demoralising.

“The NHS not only has a duty of care to the patients, it has a duty to safeguard its staff, particularly those providing care and nurturing patients rather than office management who appear to have preferential treatment.”

Another hospital worker added: “The managers aren’t affected as they have their own allocated spaces at the back of the hospital - you can't expect them to walk that far!”

A Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said the hospital is introducing a new system to prioritise parking for patients and their visitors, which has now increased by 25 per cent.

He said: “As a very busy town centre hospital site, car parking presents us with a significant challenge.

“Our staff permit applications are assessed based on a range of criteria including shift patterns, physical ability, distance from their home to the hospital and the requirement to use a vehicle for work purposes during the day. These criteria were drawn up with staff representatives to ensure fairness. The vast majority of our on-site staff capacity has been allocated to shift workers and those who are most in need of on-site parking e.g. their vehicles used for work purposes but unfortunately, given the limited space and the high demand, not everyone who has applied for an on-site permit will be successful. However, staff who are working a shift finishing after 9pm are able to park on site for the duration of that shift and on-site out of hours (evenings and weekends).

“235 members of staff have been allocated parking at the Dolphin Shopping Centre which is less than ten minutes’ walk from the hospital and is already used by staff. The security arrangements for all our parking sites are kept under review but no incidents involving Poole Hospital staff have been reported in the last year.”