Proposal highlights:
- KEMH to provide dedicated carpark for NICU parents
- City to convert Hensman Road Car Station 16 into KEMH patient and visitor parking
- City to establish overflow parking for NICU parents in nearby Stubbs Terrace car station
- City to replace early bird permits with e-permits for greater flexibility
- City to advocate for increased patient parking on-site at the hospital in line with the Health Department’s own parking strategy.
Parents with babies in King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) could soon have dedicated hospital on-site parking if a proposal by the City of Subiaco is accepted by the State Government.
The City will propose a carpark swap that would see a City-owned car station on Hensman Road turned into hospital patient and visitor parking with the expectation that KEMH would then allocate one hospital carpark for the exclusive use of NICU parents.
The move is a bid to create more easily accessible and free parking spots for NICU parents who can spend weeks at a time at the maternity hospital with their newborn babies.
The City currently provides the hospital with 20 parking permits each week that allow NICU parents to park all day for free in select car stations but, after further investigation, the City found the permits were not being utilised to their full capacity – largely due to low availability of nearby parking spots.
The proposal was carried unanimously by Council last night and comes after an extensive investigation by the City, including discussions with KEMH, Helping Little Hands charity group, and NICU parents themselves.
Currently, KEMH have 467 parking bays on-site with only 29 of these available for patients and visitors. The remaining 438 are for the sole use of hospital staff.
The proposal does not remove any parking but rather seeks to prioritise select bays close to the hospital for parents and patients.
If accepted, the changes would mean 12 permanent dedicated bays for NICU parents (Car Park 5) and an additional 24 bays created by the City for other KEMH patients and visitors by converting Hensman Road Car Station 16.
As part of the proposal, the City also seeks to establish overflow parking for NICU families at a nearby carpark on Stubbs Terrace which is currently underutilised, and to advocate for increased patient parking on-site at the hospital in line with the Health Department’s own parking strategy.
The City would also look to replace the hard copy parking permits with a more flexible e-permit system to enable more NICU parents to use them.