Hospital parking fees will be axed
Thursday 1st October 2009, 12:50PM BST.
Hospital car parking charges for in-patients are to be phased out over the next three years, Health Secretary Andy Burnham has announced.
Mr Burnham told Labour’s conference that he wanted to introduce parking permits instead to allow friends and relatives to visit for free.
He said the last thing people visiting hospital wanted to worry about was keeping the car parking ticket up to date. “For families of the sickest patients, the costs can really rack up.
“It’s not right if some people don’t get visitors every day because families can’t afford the parking fees,” he said.
He warned the change could not be brought about overnight.
But to cheers and applause from delegates, he added: “Over the next three years, as we can afford it, I want to phase out car parking charges for in-patients, giving each a permit for the length of their stay, which family and friends can use.”
Earner
Charges are a big earner for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.
The £2 parking charge raises more than £600,000 a year from the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal hospitals which is spent on security and some patients’ services.
Andy Rogers, trust spokesman, said: “The trust already aims to offer a range of discounts and concessions for frequent visitors to hospital, for example a visitor can buy a seven-day ticket at the reduced price of £8.
“This ticket represents a discount of up to 42 per cent on the normal ticket price.
“In addition to this, some people are eligible for full or partial refund of their travel costs through the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme.
“The health secretary Andy Burnham has announced that the Labour Party may introduce changes to parking charges for hospital in-patients if it wins the next election, so we would expect further details no earlier than the latter half of next year.”
Mr Burnham also told the conference that he wanted to link the way hospitals were paid to patient quality and satisfaction rates and reaffirmed his commitment to abolish GP practice boundaries within a year.
By Health Correspondent Dave Morris
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“Phased out over 3 years”
3 years?. They were implemented a darn side quicker.
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Why does it take 3 years to phase out??? just take the damn machines off the car parks,there you go, sorted!! typical nhs – nothing is done overnight!!!!! Damn right no-one should pay for parking.
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In my opinion, no hospital should charge patients, visitors or staff..Just another tax on the sick and those that look after them.
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Thanks labour! 6 months before an election, why not in the past 10 years? jam tomorrow won’t save you.
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So does this mean we can claim backed the car parking charges we have already paid?
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So this is a tax on the sick – what in a similar way having to pay for public transport to the hospital is also a tax on the sick?? Generally hospitals initally started charging as they were in prime locations where shoppers and people going to work could park for free – not really on as all those patients couldn’t get parked.
The reason why the charges can’t be reduced straight away is that many hospitals have contracts with car park providers and they obviously can’t be torn up straight away. Some of you may be surprised to find that this issue with contracts doesn’t just apply to the NHS but also applies to lots of different organisations too. So not really typical NHS then.
I wonder how long it will be before people start moaning about safety in car parks (as no charges = no security or maintenance for lighting) or the other alternative – pay for that and it comes out of the hospital budget. A typically ill thought out pronouncement really.
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Will there still be a hospital in Telford in three years..
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Maybe this is why they can no longer afford to keep services in both Telford and Shrewsbury.
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Excellent,
Now I can park for free in Shrewsbury and have a very short bus ride into the office.
What do you mean its for patients and family only? I am a tax payer too, and so entitled to park for free.
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Good news for the sick and their relatives although I just wonder how they are going to stop those that will now use the hospital car parks and bus service as a cheap alternative to parking in town or on the park and ride?
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