Work begins to create new Newark Hospital car parking spaces
Work is now officially underway to create 80 new car parking spaces at a hospital.
Plans to improve patient access to Newark Hospital by expanding the car park on site were approved earlier this year and this week became a reality as contractors started work.
The car park is a partnership between Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Newark Hospital, and Newark and Sherwood District Council and is scheduled to be complete by February next year.
The council purchased the land on Bowbridge Road with the intention of converting it into additional hospital car parking in its bid to ensure residents have access to even more health care provision locally.
There are currently 170 pay and display spaces plus 20 spaces for blue badge holders in the main Newark Hospital car park.
The new car park, which will have electric charging points, will provide parking for staff on site which will free up spaces in the main car park for patients and visitors.
David Ainsworth, director of strategy and partnerships at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, said: “It’s exciting to see all our plans for Newark Hospital come to fruition and I’m very grateful to the team at Newark and Sherwood District Council.
“The additional parking spaces will make it so much easier for patients and visitors to visit the site and I hope it will encourage more people to elect to have their treatment or procedure at the hospital.”
The car park is just one part of the trust’s plan to maximise the potential of Newark Hospital as a community asset — with more than £5m invested in the site since 2020.
A new state-of-the-art operating theatre is set to open in November. The new facility will mean up to 2,600 extra operations and procedures will be able to take place at the hospital each year.
David said: “When the new theatre opens we will have the capacity to carry out more operations and procedures than ever before at Newark Hospital.
“We want to make full use of the fantastic facilities and skilled, dedicated colleagues that we have and are encouraging patients to ‘Ask for Newark’ with their GP and hospital teams to check if they can have their treatment there.”
Susan Crosby, the council’s portfolio holder for health, wellbeing and leisure, said: “I am delighted that the district council has been able to facilitate the expansion of the car park at Newark Hospital allowing for additional services to be introduced.
“We know that many of our residents will find it much easier to park when visiting the hospital which is particularly important when the new operating theatre opens.”
The car park, which is due to be completed in February 2024, brings the Trust another step closer to finalising its vision of improving facilities at the hospital for the benefit of local residents
