STAFF at Glasgow’s newest hospital are spending hours stuck in traffic due to rush hour gridlock around the facility.

People who work around the area, as well as local residents, have also complained about traffic problems and say the road layouts are dangerous.

Ambulance staff say the sheer volume of traffic during peak times means it is taking longer to get patients back to the site, and it impacts on their response times to and from emergencies.

A source at the ambulance service said: “It would usually take about one or two minutes to get through if you happened to be given an emergency call and you were near the new hospital, or even getting back there.

“In peak times, it can take six or seven minutes and those minutes can be crucial depending on what has happened to the patient.

“People do end up pulling their cars onto pavements but sometimes there is nowhere for them to go, so you are sitting there with your blue lights on waiting to get through.

“I have waited for more than an hour before to get back to the hospital, a patient can deteriorate in that time.”

NHS staff working at the facility are furious about the traffic problems, with some saying they have waited for two hours to get out of the area at night, with tailbacks particularly bad around the Clyde Tunnel.

Some staff have also received fines due to delays in collecting their children from nursery caused by the heavy congestion.

Maz Murphy, who works at the hospital, has been campaigning about parking and traffic issues on behalf of staff over the past eight years.

She said: “They have built a super hospital and centralised an awful lot of services, but it’s in a position where the infrastructure is not fit for purpose.

“The arterial road in and out of it is constantly blocked, you’re impeded, and there have been quite a few accidents.

“There’s blue light ambulances trying to get in and they are having problems because of the traffic too.

“I’ve witnessed it half a dozen times at least.

“Whatever way you try to get out its gridlock, it’s utter madness.

“Along with this you have patients who cannot get in on time for their appointments so they are missing them. Its quite common actually.”

Ms Murphy said she has raised concerns about the safety of Hardgate Road and Shieldhall road, two of the main roads bordering the £842m hospital, to the council after a number of cars were involved in accidents.

She added: “I’ve approached the council to make the area safer three months ago and we’re still waiting.

“It is literally got to the point where staff either stay longer on shift to get a chance of getting out onto the motorway or where they need to be to get home or some staff are having to cut their hours because they are consistently late for childcare or picking up children from nursery, and have been fined as a result.

“It is a complete nightmare.”

People who live near the site have also reported problems with traffic, and lengthy waiting times around the hospital when trying to get back to their homes at night.

Alistair Sinclair, a spokesman for the G51 group which is campaigning about the parking and traffic problems, said: “There are particular problems for traffic trying to exit right from Hardgate Road.

“Residents are finding it almost impossible to exit onto Shieldhall Road because of [the]volume of traffic and requests for lights at the junction with Cowden Road and Fulbar Road have so far been ignored

“At rush hour there is major gridlock, and the lines of semi stationary traffic also creates major pollution issues for local residents.

“A similar situation exists on Govan Road near the hospital and has been exacerbated by the creation of the Fastlink bus lanes.”

A Scottish Ambulance spokesman said: “Staff have not reported any significant delays in traffic when going into the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.”

An NHS spokesman said: “Patients who are late for an appointment will still be seen that day as close to the original scheduled time as possible.”

A council spokeswoman said: “Transport Assessment at planning stage identified that without sustainable transport improvements and on street parking controls, the existing road network would not cope with a significant increase in car traffic - which is why partners have invested millions in a reliable, high spec bus service to the hospital.

“Car demand would also have been constrained had parking controls been introduced in the surrounding area. However, this has been delayed due to number of objections.

“The council is currently working on a solution to improve the junction at Hardgate / Shieldhall junction and we continue to work with our partners SPT and NHS to alleviate the issues being experienced.”

hannah.rodger@eveningtimes.co.uk