DAVID BROWN reports on Northwick Park's pioneering private finance deal, while CAROLINE COOLEY gets an update on the campaign to win free parking at the hospital for disabled people

Work on a new multi-storey car park and access to Northwick Park Hospital's casualty department has begun under a pioneering private financing deal.

The four-level car park at the front of the hospital will provide an extra 260 spaces when work is completed in between nine and 12 months.

It will allow a road ramp to be built to a new frontage of the first-floor casualty and outpatients' department so that patients can be dropped off and ambulances and other vehicles quickly driven away without having to turn around.

The £3.5 million scheme is being built by First Management Group (FMG) which has a 40-year contract to manage all parking at the hospital.

NPH's director of facilities, Peter Woolliscroft, said: "There will be a huge new car park, where people will be able to park under cover and a new easy access for patients to be dropped of at the A and E and outpatient department."

Charges at the new multi-story car park will probably change from the current one-off payment to a graduated fee depending on the length of stay.

Paul Bird, managing director of FMG, said: "We are very excited as this scheme breaks new ground because it is a construction of a brand new structure using private finance which we believe is a first for hospital car parking.

"It also gives us a long-term stable relationship so we can continue to develop our services to the hospital."

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