An absolute disgrace. Not only are people being ripped off these charges but the attitude of the so called attendents when asking a simple question stinks. I was spoken to like something id just trodden in.

No one should have to pay for car parking at the hospital and this is a complete scam.

If people use common sense and able to walk ok then you can park for free on the nearby housing estate at the back of the RSH. No traffic wardens patrol that are and there is plenty of room especially along the Shelton hospital entrance road. 2 mins walk thats all.

Even better still, use the bus service...

Shocking. Unacceptable. Pathetic.

bloody disgracefull.

Absolutely awful.

In Wales, no only do they not have to pay for prescriptions, but it's also free to park at the hospital. Take the Wrexham Maelor for example, you park, get a free ticket, display it on the windscreen and you're good to go for up to 2 hours.

When I was attending RSH regularly, I used to have to dash out at midnight for a new ticket. People do not attend the hospital because they want to, they attend because they have to. Neither hospital is close to shopping areas, so it's not going to attract people parking there out of convenience. It's just complete and utter money-making schemes.

Living in Oswestry, I have a choice of Wrexham Maelor or Royal Shrewsbury. I know which I'd choose!

I never pay to park at the PRH because I park at the old Wakins nursury site and walk on a good footpath to the hospital. 5 mins max.

So £1.3m isn't enough to extort from the sick? I would despair, but they would charge me for that.

I think the residence around these two hospitals are going to find it very difficult to drive up and down their streets because no one will pay, they will just dump there cars down and walk.

Shame on the trust for letting this happen and if they are going to charge by the hour perhaps the NHS appointments could actually run to time so that those who do pay keep the cost to a minimum

My partner lives very close to RSH and he received an appointment for PRH so as well as having to travel all that way they will soon be wanting him to pay £4 for the privilege on top of petrol seems unfair as the powers that be have decided he must have test done at PRH and not next door at RSH

Hospital car parks should be free , we have now in the UK got in to a very poor habit of nikle and dimeing the general public to death.

A shocking and ridiculous money grabbing excercise. Makes it more expensive than parking in the town centre.

Why complain about parking charges? Someone has to maintain the carparks and surely you dont expect the hospital trust to do so

I agree with Darren. I left as a relief car park attendant back in March as I knew what was coming My advice if visiting use public transport either the 44, or 55 service cover the PRH and the 1 service for the RSH if you can get someone to drop you off. If you think these charges are bad then New Cross Wolverhampton or the new QE in Birmingham are even more expensive.The NHS trust are aware of the parking problems at both hospitals but the suits will do nothing about it.

a tax on the sick and the poor, its disgusting

AND barely half goes into the public coffers most is taken as an admin fee by the private firm

why cant the local council run the carpark for a nominal fee (not for profit) and help keep charges lower plus recycle the money back into local public sector services

Thatcher was hell bent on getting rid of the NHS now this lot are trying it a different way. We should all refuse to pay these rip off charges and write to your MP and local councillors and tell them support abolition of this tax on the sick or you will not vote for them the all can not afford to loose their cushy expense claims. lay it on the line.

This type of rise will deter people from hospital appointments. My appointments lasts 1 hour and thats excluding waiting time so what will that cost? Not many people will visit in-patients due to the increase or cut short the visit.What effect will this have to the sick and recouperation? It boils down to greed yet again doesnt it? Whats the reason for this increase? It mentions a pay on exit system to reduce the stress, what rubbish its no difference. Its best to pay your £2.00 and when your done you can go home. A hospital isnt like the carpark at Telford town Centre! Can you image the build up of traffic with that system? Stop trying to justify why this system seems better when it'll cost to put in place. Another thing to fix that isn't broken! Just leave well alone.

So we have to pay to use our free health service. Time to say NO!!!!!

Will the hospitals give us our money back if our appointments run more than 1 hour late?

This what happens when the government use billions to bail out dodgy bankers. There's no money to spend on health, education or defence.

"The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust says it also plans to introduce a pay-on-exit system to help reduce patients’ stress when they arrive at hospital"

WHAT ! HOW ?

As I've said before, if you look at the table in the link provided, SaTH is currently one of the cheapest, these charges are only bringing us in line with other hospitals.

http://www.royalwolverhamptonhospitals.nhs.uk/patients__public/car_parking.aspx

Why isn't the Trust honest - they should tell us that we need to contribute towards our health care and towards the pay packets of the over-paid executives at NCP so they are putting up parking charges.

We're on the road to NHS privatisation and this is what comes with it. You pay more and you get less (unless you are a shareholder or senior manager).

Welcome to life under the Tories they make the cuts and the hospitals have to make up the deficit.

This is an absolute disgrace.

The minimum charge proposed is 25% higher than the existing £2..Since when has inflation risen by 25% over the last 5 years and as for a potential maximum £4,a absolute joke??

How many appointments last less than an hour- virtually none,so the majority will pay well over the proposed £2:50

Car parks in the town aren't ripping people off to this amount!

So not only do we get taxed to pay for the Nhs,we get taxed (robbed) again for the privelage of using it.

No doubt another "suit" will be appointed to oversee any potential change.

The shoddy service provided by the current carpark administrators dose not justify the current £2 charge let alone any increase.

How strange that the sick have suddenly become poor ? Just like the poor blue badge holders ? who take up all the on street parking in Shrewsbury

A quick view of the cars parked at the hospital you will see all the latest metal worth thousands.

If you own a car and can afford £1-35 per litre then you can pay to park. When it was free it was chaos .

By the way. What a wonderful free service we have when we are sick.

So count your blessings and pay up.

I wonder if the same % increase will be the same for the Staff who work there and have to pay to park with no Gurantee of a space in the Staff car parks.

The management needs a good sort out. There are too many on too high a wage. If they can't run a hospital without charging for car parking then they should be sacked. The NHS is too top heavy and needs pruning.

totally out of order most of its not going to the NHS even which would make it easier to accept but it goes for profit to a private company who runs the car park under some crazy contract negotiated by people who should have got a better deal for over taxed under served patients who deserve a free health system for our billions

There is just not enough spaces. On the proposed pay-on-exit, what will happen to all the people that park on the grass and pavements?, my information is that they will get a ticket. I talked to a attendant, and he said that what is needed is a multi-storey car park on the site, at the moment it is chaos at visiting times.Instead of employing outside contractors to run the car parks why don't they employ their own people? I'm sure that it would not cost them over £1/2 million that they pay the contractors.

Park at the RSH, don't pay, get ticket, don't pay, get letter, ignore. What are they going to do about it? They aren't Council or Police Parking Tickets. They have no grounds on which to "fine" you - that's for a court to do as a sanction for a criminal offence (or if someone accepts a Fixed Penalty from a Police officer as an alternative to going to court). I bet it also didn't say "Penalty Charge Notice" like a Council issued parking ticket, which also might go to court if not paid - they often will try to make it look similar by calling the privately issued ones "parking charge Notice" .... The difference between "parking charge" and "Penalty Charge" is a significant one! For a Private firm, all they could claim is their losses & costs and that means taking you to County Court!

What's wrong with the current system or charges why do they want to incur additional expense by buying additional equipment? Is there a business case that can support the need for any change at all? If the price rise is only going to be absorbed by the cost of new equipment it is a non starter or should be referred to the audit commission.

The real problems that exist are the lack of parking in peak periods which if fixed would increase revenue and the extended periods of parking required by the extended periods people have to spend there due to late appointments, block booking and long waits in A & E. All of these issues if addressed will address the carking issues by increasing the numbers accommodated and hence fees collected.

We also need a more flexible arrangement for A & E since the visits are all unplanned and drivers may not have the right change or be able to predict how long they will be there. What is the logic of charging for parking out of normal hours when the car parks are empty? If your emergency spans midnight you need to pay for two days.

Let’s look at this situation with some common sense and remember this is the National Health SERVICE, not a commercial company.

This is all part of the neo-liberal privatisation of OUR national health service, thanks to the libs/tory/labour cabal.