Nurses angered over changes to parking at Kitchener hospital

There is controversy at the Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) as some nurses are reeling over recent changes to parking at the Queen’s Boulevard location.

In an email to 570 NewsRadio, nurses, who wished to remain anonymous, said they recently received communication from WRHN detailing changes to parking coming in July, meaning many members of staff have been moved from their usual spot to an off-site lot that’s a 35-minute walk from the hospital.

“People who are already working 12 hours a day on nights and weekends will have extra commute time added to our day now,” said one nurse.

They added that there will be a shuttle in place to transport staff from the off-site lot to the hospital, but that the shuttle only holds 24 passengers and arrives at 20-minute intervals.

“Staff are talking about leaving for other hospitals,” added the nurse. “St. Mary’s was small and made staff feel appreciated. We wanted to work here and be part of something special because we do amazing things here. We’ve been merged for (two and a half) months, and it’s already gone bad.”

In April, local hospitals merged under the WRHN umbrella after 90 years of partnership. Grand River Hospital is now known as WRHN at Midtown, St. Mary’s Hospital is now known as WRHN at Queen’s Boulevard, and Freeport Hospital is now known as WRHN at Chicopee.

In an email response to 570 NewsRadio about the complaints about parking, WRHN indicated that the changes were made with the needs of patients in mind.

“The reality is that our Queen’s Blvd. site does not have the space that we need for everyone to park onsite, and just as we’ve done in the past at our Midtown site, and like many other hospitals across the province, we’ve worked hard to do our best to navigate our space constraints by finding parking solutions offsite,” it said.

“Balancing the needs of our patients and our team members remains at the heart of everything we do.”

WRHN added that the development of their new hospital at the University of Waterloo, expected to be named WRHN at University, will improve upon access to services for patients and team members.

That hospital is set to be completed in 2035.