Royal Berkshire Hospital barrier system to be reintroduced

Decision comes as normal services get up and running at the hospital

THE barrier system for the Royal Berkshire Hospital multi-storey car park will be reintroduced next Monday as pressure from the pandemic eases.

During the pandemic, the barriers were lifted to provide parking for staff and to make it easier and quicker for them to get to hospital for their shifts caring for Covid-19 patients.

Now the hospital is almost free from coronavirus, a wide range of clinics and operations are starting to take place again which means more people using the car park.

Staff have reverted back to their normal travel to work arrangements to free up parking space for patients.

People are reminded they will need to wear masks or face coverings during their visits and must abide by the social distancing rules.

There are now posters and floor markings to make it easier and safer for people to get around the RBH site.

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Steve McManus said: “It’s great that now we’re almost Covid free we can resume many of our services on site.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding when we had to pause a lot of this work to concentrate on Covid.

“It’s very important as we resume services that people attend for their treatments.

“I can assure them we have done everything possible to make the hospital a safe and welcoming place.

“Of course, this will mean extra footfall on the site and more need for the car parking facility.

“We just want to make people aware that from July 13 the barrier will be back in place.

“I know some people allow a lot of extra time to get to their appointment because of problems with finding a parking space, but we’re asking them not to do this because, under the new social distancing rules, they will not be able to come on site until their allotted appointment time.”

Mr McManus continued: “During Covid many of our clinics were held virtually with patients and clinicians communicating via video link or over the phone.

“This proved popular with many patients who appreciate the convenience of discussing their treatment this way.

“We’re continuing this with many clinics, and widening its scope which should help ease pressure on our car parking.

“And we’re also continuing with our estate redevelopment programme which should also help tackle the parking problems here.”