More than an hour to park: Waikato Hospital visitor calls for action

Tuesday, 12 May 2026

A woman who spent more than a year supporting a dying family member at Waikato Hospital says in an emergency situation, every second of delay counts.

Carolyn Joynes said she would sometimes be called to the hospital, not knowing what was going on except that it could be life or death, only to spend upwards of an hour looking for a park.

She hated to think others were going through the same situation, and believed it was time for action to address the issue.

Joynes said her late brother-in-law was diagnosed with brain cancer after being rushed to hospital by ambulance when he collapsed at home in late 2024. The prognosis was terminal — they were initially told he might not survive the night.

He required care across different wards and specialties.

Joynes said she became one of his primary support people alongside her sister, acting as an advocate and attending appointments. She said she also supported other family members, and, as the only one with a licence, did the driving.

This gave her plenty of first hand experience with the parking problem Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) has given mixed messaging about.

Over the span of a year, she went to the hospital “hundreds of times,” for both planned and unplanned visits.

Emergency phone calls often meant she had to “drop everything,” she said, as she was often one of the only people able to respond and assist with decisions.

Parking access became a significant issue during these urgent trips. The drive to the top of the multi-storey car park buildings and back down again was slow and often unsuccessful, adding stress during already distressing situations.

Joynes said she would then be forced to leave the hospital precinct and search for parking in surrounding streets. This process could take up to an hour and was made more difficult by the lack of free parking and high demand from both hospital staff and city workers.

When parking was eventually found, it was often far from the hospital, sometimes near Hamilton Girls’ High School. This required a long walk back.

“You have to make decisions on the fly sometimes, and you're not in a mental space after all that, to be clear-headed.”

Joynes also raised concerns about traffic congestion and road changes around the hospital that also made the hunt for a park longer.

“I know more than anyone that seconds and minutes can cost someone's life,” she said.

The problem was getting worse due to population growth, an ageing population, and increased demand on health services that she predicted would only get worse due to the cost of living crisis.

The overall system had not kept pace with increasing pressure on infrastructure and demand for care, she said.

Improved access to the hospital was needed, whether by HNZ expanding the current parking buildings, or collaborating with Hamilton City Council and earmarking nearby land for a car park that could connect to the hospital with shuttle services.

“They’ve got to do something,” she said.

Last week, the mother of a former NICU baby also flagged similar issues. She described the stress of finding a park in order to visit her baby, and also called for improvements.

The hospital currently has 1070 public parking spaces and 1482 spaces for staff and contractors.

An HNZ spokesperson has already ruled out the possibility of another car park building, saying the hospital already has significant capacity, as reported by the Waikato Times earlier this week.

HNZ head of land and property Monique Fowler said the hospital had more parks than any other in the country, and also pointed to alternative transport options such as bus or bike.

However, the hospital website warned of extremely limited parking. A PSA union representative said existing capacity was already under significant strain, particularly as ongoing construction had reduced available spaces, and staff faced a parking waitlist of more than two years.