Concern at NHS plan to relocate 160 more staff to the Ninewells Hospital site

Dundee West End councillors Fraser Macpherson and Michael Crichton are concerned at the NHS Tayside plan to relocate 160 more staff onto the Ninewells Hospital site, which is already bursting at the seams. There are huge car parking and congestion issues. 
NHS Tayside is intends to implement a long-standing proposal to move 160 non-clinical staff to Ninewells Hospital from Maryfield House on Mains Loan to the Mackenzie Building at Ninewells.
The councillors wrote to Tayside NHS Chief Executive Nicky Connor to express concern – and in reply Ms Connor states: 

“There are around 160 staff relocating to the MacKenzie Building - as a comparison up to 300 people used to work there when University of Dundee occupied the building. Many of our staff who are relocating already work on the Ninewells site on a daily basis as part of their roles and responsibilities.”
“In addition, many of the staff work under a hybrid arrangement which means they combine working from home and on site, reducing demand on parking and traffic. We have also asked staff about their circumstances as part of our planning discussions and we know that not all travel by car.”

Councillor Fraser Macpherson said:
“There is a 120-space car park at the MacKenzie Building. Rather than using it to try to accommodate the parking needs of the 160 staff NHS Tayside intends transferring there from Maryfield House, this should have been used to provide additional public parking on the Ninewells site.”   
“Councillor Crichton and I receive regular complaints from constituents about huge queues trying to get parked and Ninewells Hospital and missed out-patients appointments as people wait in long queues at Ninewells simply to try to get parked.”    
“The infrastructure at Ninewells has expanded way beyond what it was supposed to cover due to the NHS centralising so  any Tayside health facilities on the Ninewells site and this proposal will just exacerbate issues such as parking even more.  It is a missed opportunity to use existing additional parking at the MacKenzie Building and use it to relieve the situation at Ninewells.”

Councillor Michael Crichton added: 

“Although we accept that the Maryfield site is older, it will cost NHS Tayside significant sums to move the staff - new furniture, kitting out a new building and paying staff excess mileage for three years.”  
“It would have made more sense to improve the Maryfield site and keep the non-clinical staff away from the already congested Ninewells Hospital site. Most of the staff concerned have finance and administration responsibilities and there’s absolutely no need for them to be relocated to the crammed Ninewells Hospital site given their non-clinical responsibilities.”
“We hope NHS Tayside thinks again on this proposal.  We have real concerns how the Ninewells infrastructure can possibly cope with more and more people being moved onto the site.”