THE current disruption at York District Hospital is being smoothed over by a new commissionaire - former city pub bouncer Lisa Harrison.

Lisa, 31, of Gale Lane, Acomb, is the new friendly face that greets motorists and pedestrian visitors to the hospital over the next few months while the extensive refurbishment continues.

She will see that everyone knows where they can and cannot park while the hospital car park is reconfigured and that setting down and picking up patients and visitors goes without a hitch.

Lisa is making full use of her former training as a doorperson which saw her meeting and greeting drinkers - and keeping them in line - at O'Neill's pub in Lower Ousegate, York.

She said: "I'm here to supervise the parking, to get the taxis and ambulances through okay and to prioritise so that the right people get through the quickest.

"A lot of the people who come to the hospital are older people and basically I'm here to help. It is going really well."

Lisa is joined by two information guides who will man a special information booth outside the main hospital entrance.

She said: "All this work can be a shock for people if they are not expecting it. They are under pressure anyway because they have an appointment or they are visiting someone, so I just try to help them through the changes that are going on.

"If somebody is shouting or under pressure I don't take it personally, I do whatever I can to help.

"It's a really rewarding job and everybody has been brilliant. When it was raining heavily on Monday the taxi drivers were passing me cups of coffee."

Danny Morgan, director of facilities, said all the disruption would be worth it, because the new car parking arrangements and the internal improvements, would be "superb".

He said: "I think we are getting a lot of goodwill from patients and visitors which is what we were hoping for.

"They know it's a mess out here but we are trying to keep it safe and get traffic flowing, and it seems to be working.

"We are trying to maximise access for patients and disabled drivers, but to get that we have obviously got to have a period of disruption."

Updated: 12:02 Friday, September 13, 2002