A SENIOR nurse has brought in her own "security checks" to ensure the safety of colleagues at Fairfield Hospital.

She is asking her staff to call in at her department on their way home so that she knows they have safely retrieved their vehicles from the car park.

The news came as nurses wrote to hospital bosses to voice their fears about car park security at Fairfield, a week after a new clamping policy outraged both staff and visitors.

Nurses on late shifts are also being given permission to move their cars nearer to the hospital building when parking bays become available, despite fears that their absence could compromise patient safety.

The senior nurse, who did not want to be identified, told the Bury Times: "I check all my nurses are in their cars by asking them to stop at the department before they leave the grounds or ensure they have got lifts.

"There are regular incidents of car vandalism and thefts. People are often seen hanging around the car park."

As reported in last week's Bury Times, hospital bosses have brought in a tough new policy to stop medical staff and hospital visitors parking on double yellow lines or in hazardous spots.

But nurses say managers should address the underlying issue of car park security which would prevent them from parking on the double yellow lines in the first place.

In a letter, to Mrs Stringer, acting chairman of Bury Health Care NHS Trust, nurses said: "Nursing staff feel that they are at risk in the car park while moving their cars while they are alone.

"This is leaving them open to the possibility of both assault and personal theft and is obviously causing a great deal of consternation. We do not feel that this situation can continue and urge your support in attaining safe and acceptable parking facilities for staff in the immediate future."

Hospital managers insisted that car park security was being improved all the time with lighting being introduced.

They also said that money raised from clamping would pay for improved security. Bury Health Care NHS Trust board has also indicated that they will be looking at options to improve the security for cars parked at Fairfield from funds collected by charging for parking.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Nursing, which is a professional association as well as a trade union body, said that the issue of nurse safety should be made top priority.

"Every nurse and all health care workers have a right to come to work in safety," she said.