Desperate patients are still struggling to park at a flagship north-east hospital, after a weekend of construction work on a multi-storey car park turned into almost three weeks and counting.
The £10.7million Lady Helen Parking Centre at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary opened on Wednesday, October 26, then closed a day later to allow for work on the “lifts, lighting and other areas.”
At the time, NHS Grampian said the closure had been planned as part of a short “soft opening” programme, and implied that the facility would only be shut for a few days.
A statement from the health board said: “We would like to advise that the multi-storey car park is currently closed from today and over the weekend.
“We aim to keep these closure periods to a minimum, however we expect there will be periods where the car park is not open to users over the next few weeks.”
Despite the reassurance, the car park has yet to re-open to patients and visitors, leaving them scrambling for spaces throughout Foresterhill.
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman has told the Press and Journal the car park is expected to re-open soon.
She said: “We experienced electrical problems in the multi storey car park shortly after opening which has taken time to rectify.
“We are also taking the opportunity during this closure period to improve signage following patient and visitor feedback.
“This work has now been completed and is awaiting a final safety checks and sign off.
“As soon as this has taken place, we will be able to re-open the car park.
“We can only apologise to our patients, visitors and staff for the further inconvenience this has caused.”
North-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald added: “I think it is clear that, whatever the purpose of opening for around 24 hours, it served no useful purpose for the users.
“When it does open properly, I hope they can rely on it staying open.
“But we will remain mystified as to why it opened for just 24 hours before.”