Hospitals making hundreds of millions from parking charges

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Northerner

Northerner

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Hospitals are making hundreds of millions of pounds from car parking charges, with more than four in 10 NHS trusts increasing the cost of a stay in the past year.

An investigation using freedom of information requests has found that some trusts have doubled the price of car parking for patients and visitors.

Analysis of data published by NHS Digital in October shows that NHS trusts made more than £226m in 2017-18 from parking, including penalty fines.

A total of 124 NHS trusts responded to the Press Association requests on parking charges, with 53 (43%) reporting an increase in prices in the past year for visitors or staff, or both. The remaining 71 (57%) said they had not put up their prices.

https://www.theguardian.com/society...ing-hundreds-of-millions-from-parking-charges
 
I’ve said this before, but there are no hospital car parking charges in Scotland. You can’t tax people because their nan is in hospital.

There aren’t enough car parking spaces, but that’s hardly the point. That’s the case in hospital car parks in England.
 
So the hospital grabs all the parking money from day one when they open it, and it never costs them another penny to run, ever, through the life of the hospital?

It's irrelevant in Coventry - they don't own or run the car parking there.
 
Parking charges were brought in in Oxford when nobody could find a space because people were abusing the free car parks and using them to park all day while they caught the bus into Oxford to work, instead of using the Park and Ride carparks which charged. The first half hour is free. Amazingly, when I was first diagnosed, I was sent for a liver ultrasound, and managed to check in, have the scan, and get out all in under the half hour. Never managed it for anything since!
(for some categories, such as cancer patients and parents of inpatient children, you can get a free pass from the ward)
 
Most hospital car parks seem to be run by private money grabbing enterprises and it makes my blood boil! I’m going to be virtually living at the local hospital over the next year and it’s a nightmare to find a parking space let alone have to pay £3.00 for anything more than 20 mins!
Last time I had blood tests there, we had to sprint back to the car as we had 2 mins to go! And I don’t sprint easily these days especially with a severe chest infection! 🙄
 
There was a big scandal recently about the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast when the car parking rights where sold to a private firm & the money raised helped to fund the rebuilding of the hospital! But, that private firm started to hike up the car parking charges & the NHS Trust couldn’t do anything about it! It was a very short sighted decision made at the time that’s come back to haunt them & WE the public pay for it in the exorbitant parking charges! The NHS trust were REALLY grilled over by public opinion over that & had to revise similar such funding plans!

My local hospital, The Causeway, started off with free car parking but, have started charging in recent years because people abused it: parked their cars there for days & weeks while they went away on holiday!

The Altnagelvin hospital In Londonderry, nearest eye hospital, only charges visitors & if you’re going in for ops & day procedures, you’re given a code to put in the car parking machine for free parking in your admission letter! I like that idea & wish The Causeway would do that too instead of charging everybody!
 
Amigo said:
Most hospital car parks seem to be run by private money grabbing enterprises and it makes my blood boil! I’m going to be virtually living at the local hospital over the next year and it’s a nightmare to find a parking space let alone have to pay £3.00 for anything more than 20 mins!
Last time I had blood tests there, we had to sprint back to the car as we had 2 mins to go! And I don’t sprint easily these days especially with a severe chest infection! 🙄
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Do you not get concessionary parking for your treatment, many places now do so.
 
grovesy said:
Do you not get concessionary parking for your treatment, many places now do so.
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I’m going to look into it grovesy. I think you do for daily chemo but I’ll be there for endless scans, blood tests and a variety of other appointments.
Thing is I don’t mind paying a reasonable amount but it’s totally extortionate and doesn’t even benefit the hospital!
 
I’m just grateful I qualify for hospital transport now that I live in England, though for how long that is free I don’t know.

I don’t know how folk manage to get to wards and clinics in the time allowed in parking, they all seem to be past avenues of shops and coffee franchises these days, with the lifts as far as possible from the entrances.
 
mikeyB said:
I’m just grateful I qualify for hospital transport now that I live in England, though for how long that is free I don’t know.
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I qualify too, nobody has ever said there’s a limit on how long, or how many times I use it. It takes me to Nottingham for the Difficult Asthma Clinic regularly, as well as countless appointments at Boston.

Never fails to amuse me that I have difficult asthma and a deranged jaw. All I need now is an insulting form of diabetes for the hat trick :D
 
mikeyB said:
I’m just grateful I qualify for hospital transport now that I live in England, though for how long that is free I don’t know.

I don’t know how folk manage to get to wards and clinics in the time allowed in parking, they all seem to be past avenues of shops and coffee franchises these days, with the lifts as far as possible from the entrances.
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Quite true Mike. When I rang for directions to Haematology, I was told it was near to Costa Coffee and the Marks and Spencer outlet! We don’t even have an M&S in the High Street anymore! 🙄
 
A family member has been in hospital since August, parking is £7 each time, it's cost us a small fortune, plus petrol as in a different County. Still cheaper than going by train and then bus, though. The hospital issue one pass per family, which obviously went to his wife.
 
Lucy Honeychurch said:
A family member has been in hospital since August, parking is £7 each time, it's cost us a small fortune, plus petrol as in a different County. Still cheaper than going by train and then bus, though. The hospital issue one pass per family, which obviously went to his wife.
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Gracious Lucy, that’s outrageous! 😱

Poor relative being in hospital so long though. They must be so glad of the visits regardless of the cost.
 
mikeyB said:
I’ve said this before, but there are no hospital car parking charges in Scotland. You can’t tax people because their nan is in hospital.

There aren’t enough car parking spaces, but that’s hardly the point. That’s the case in hospital car parks in England.
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Ninewells in Dundee charges Mike, it's one of the car parks built under PPI contract. It's the company not the hospital that gets the parking charges. Even with an outpatient appointment one has to pay, though if you run over time the excess charge is waived.
 
I'm quite glad mine charges.
It used to be full with shoppers, and day workers in the town.
Now at least I can get in to park.
Week and month tickets, sold in the ward, so only genuine patients and family can get them, are quite reasonable.
 
Our community hospital doesn’t charge
The hospital in Canterbury that we often go to charges £2 per day , blue badge holders pay too.
 
Amigo said:
Quite true Mike. When I rang for directions to Haematology, I was told it was near to Costa Coffee and the Marks and Spencer outlet! We don’t even have an M&S in the High Street anymore! 🙄
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I was so grateful for m&s and costa at hospital when we lived at our hospital for 10 days while my youngest was in NICU.
Our parking is expensive but they do special weekly passes for being who are staying due to having a child sick in hospital and they also gave my mum one because she was visiting everyday and bringing my eldest.
 
Luckily I live within walking distance of Airedale which has been featured in the reports.
 
grainger said:
I was so grateful for m&s and costa at hospital when we lived at our hospital for 10 days while my youngest was in NICU.
Our parking is expensive but they do special weekly passes for being who are staying due to having a child sick in hospital and they also gave my mum one because she was visiting everyday and bringing my eldest.
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Yes I’m sure I’ll be grateful too grainger.
I just wish they weren’t closing down these shops in the High Street!

It’s good if they issue family visiting exemptions though. That’s how it should be!
 
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