Hospital charges

I must say that is a rather simplistic view of what is a very complicated situation.

As Mike said, the staff and consultants definitely shouldn't have to pay. Two hospitals in towns near us have lost good staff to private hospitals simply because of the parking charges. The staff end up paying £8 a day, from their net wage, to park. Due to the shift system and the unsocial hours they either can't use public transport or it is unsafe to do so.

A lot of hospitals do not make much, or anything, out of their car parking charges as they have PPP (Public Private Partnerships - sometimes called PFI). Tony Blair either didn't care or didn't understand the implications of bringing in the PPPs that were a short term saving for a long term massive cost. "In 2010 it was reported that for projects with a capital cost of £11.3 billion, the National Health Service is due to pay back a total of £65.1 billion over the lifetime of the contracts". These contracts guarantee that the contractors will continue to be paid, in some cases, until 2048. These contracts are also outside of any restrictions that the government may put on the raising of car parking charges. So Corbin's claim that he will remove the car parking charges is an impossibility in some cases.

Calling people selfish drivers is a rather unfortunate term. Some people do not have access to public transport and need a car for everyday life even though they can barely afford it. For some of them adding the cost of using a taxi to their already almost unaffordable transport cost is an impossibility. If they gave up their car they would then have to give up work and end up being supported by the State (we have members on here that have found it almost impossible to work if they didn't have a car).

Some people don't go for the hospital appointments that their doctor has made for them because they can't afford it! I sometimes volunteer to transport people that have difficulties of different sorts. I also used to be on the local NHS Primary Care Trust and saw a lot of difficulties that people had.

There are lots more problems and points of view on this topic.

 

Despite now being a blue badge holder, I do have to pay for parking at my main hospital - and it is one that I visit a lot more frequently now than I would like.

I could get public transport to the hospital, but I am not yet fit enough to travel without my wheelchair when it comes to that sort of distance by bus - add into that the fact that the pavements around here are so bad that the wheelchair gets stuck in the holes and ruts, means that I have to have my carer (Mrs C) come with me. The distance that we both live from work and the fact that there is no public transport at all from either of our workplaces means that we would both have to take a day off work, and that would be unpaid in Mrs C's case. The journey itself would take approximately 90 minutes in each direction, and the appointments themselves often only last 10 minutes.

Going by car, I can get there in 15 minutes (can be longer if the traffic is bad of course), can go direct from work, go on my own and be back at my desk having been away for not much longer than an hour. But, the parking charge costs me £3.50 - when I go out to our local town centre, parking for a similar amount of time (in a far better maintained car park) costs me £1.20, and THAT is what grinds my gears about hospital parking; there is no excuse for what is blatant profiteering. I do not get a choice when I go to hospital, whereas I do when it comes to going shopping. Oh, and when I took ill in February, the only other driver in the family got belted with that £3.50 charge three times within a matter of hours - the first time to bring Mrs C to the hospital, the second time to bring my medications in for the doctors to assess, and the third time when they had all gone home only to get all called back in two hours later to 'get here, and get here as soon as you can as things are not looking good' at 1am. There can be no justification for charging £3.50 parking charge in an empty car park at 1am at a hospital.

Being disabled makes you feel that you are a burden - a burden to our families, a burden to our friends, and a burden to society. Believe me, I would much rather not be disabled, but that is the hand that life has dealt me. Many people in my position are running a car because they need it and cannot manage without it - but they can barely afford it; paying for parking at hospitals then becomes a huge problem for them. Please also bear in mind that disabled people often do not work as many hours as they once could - I can now not do any overtime at all (and in my case that has wiped a minimum of 32 hours a month off my pay), and may well have had to be redeployed into a different job role with a lower salary. How would you fare if your income dropped by a third overnight?

 

@silu There are two parts to this. When I was doing it I had checked with my insurance and they said it was OK but the hospital organisation that helped arrange things had insurance cover anyway.

Happy New Year

 

Car parking fees are one of the ways hospitals get revenue to provide some services..!!

I do have a grumble usually while I am putting the £1 coins in but at least I am at the hospital and parked for far less than it would cost me if I took public transport plus 3 bus changes from where we are.... so I don’t mind the parking charges if it gets me to see my consultant for less and on time.... Nothing is free today...!

 

Over here it is one way hospitals get a little revenue for other services they would not provide if they didn’t have that little “bit extra” from parking fees. Sadly though it does mean it is a struggle for some not as lucky as me in having own transport I suppose, but I still support car park charges at hospitals for that reason @CanadianLori

 

A lot of hospitals don't get much, if any, of the parking fees. Most goes to the private contractors that have the Public Private Partnerships.

 

Maybe we are lucky here then @shiney ..