Nurse says hospital parking fix needed after being chased to her car

Nurse says safer parking options needed for Royal Hobart Hospital staff In short: A Royal Hobart Hospital nurse says she was chased to her car by a group of men on Queens Domain after a shift. The nursing union says it wants to see better parking solutions and more safety measures introduced for hospital staff. What's next? The Tasmanian government says it is undertaking "occupational violence prevention risk assessments" of all entrances to the hospital. A Hobart-based nurse who was chased by a group of young men while she walked to her car after work says a lack of parking options in the city continues to put health workers at risk. The incident occurred on Monday night when Audrey McAllister had just finished her shift at the Royal Hobart Hospital. It was late, just past 11pm, but not an unusual time for the registered nurse to clock-off. Loading...However, as Ms McAllister walked to her car, which was parked at Queens Domain — a roughly one-kilometre walk from the hospital — she was chased by a group of about seven young men who began to yell at her as she walked passed. Ms McAllister ran to her car and locked the doors, before calling the police. While she made it back to her vehicle safe and physically unharmed, Ms McAllister said the experience had left her shaken. "I don't ever want to park up there again," she told 936 ABC Hobart. "It doesn't feel safe, it doesn't feel appropriate, so I'm probably going to park in the Market Place car park and have to fork out that fee." The area around Queens Domain is where many nurses, midwives and other shift workers park their cars to save money on expensive inner-city car park fees, or where they are forced to park due to the lack of options close to the hospital. There is no dedicated parking for hospital workers in Hobart's CBD. While only a short walk from the city centre, the Queens Domain area is poorly lit and predominantly bushland. Securing safe and affordable parking for health staff is an issue that the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Union (ANMF), of which Ms McAllister is a delegate, wants to see addressed. "Unfortunately, that's not an isolated incident," ANMF Tasmania branch secretary Emily Shepherd said of Ms McAllister's experience. "We don't want to wait until one of our members has some serious adverse outcome or, worse, loses their life in this type of scenario." Union wants dedicated staff parking The Royal Hobart Hospital is centrally located in Hobart's CBD and is the largest hospital in the state. Often, however, staff are unable to access nearby parking. The closest option, Argyle Street car park, closes at 10pm. The nearby Market Place car park is open 24/7 but can quickly become expensive or unaffordable if access is needed several times per week. Ms McAllister said she would like to see private car park providers create dedicated and safe hospital staff parking for shift workers. "There's no subsidised rates for healthcare workers," Ms McAllister said. "I've also heard of many colleagues, nurses and midwives who have experienced harassment or assault within [Market Place] car park as well." The ANMF said it had put up a raft of requests to the Tasmanian government to try and encourage it to provide better safety measures for health staff as part of ongoing enterprise agreement negotiations. These included introducing a shuttle service or security to escort staff back to their vehicles after their night shifts, and for a roof to be built over the bike storage area at the hospital so that staff can ride to work without fear of theft. A Tasmanian government spokesperson said any violence or threatening behaviour towards health staff was completely unacceptable, "regardless of whether they are on duty, or travelling to and from their place of work". The spokesperson said "violence prevention risk assessments" of all entrances to the hospital were being undertaken, and the government remained committed to delivering fair pay rises and improved conditions for nurses and midwives. "We are continuing to negotiate in good faith," they said.