Car Parking At Hospitals - Should We Have To Pay For It? | Vital Football

Car Parking At Hospitals - Should We Have To Pay For It?

BBJ

BBJ

Father Of The Forum
Personally, I think it is iniquitous that bona fide patients have to pay through the nose for car parking when they have to visit the hospital. Likewise, when someone is an in-patient, to charge their nearest and dearest over the top when visiting is also beyond the mark.
On the other hand, I wouldn't want shoppers or people with no business in the hospital getting several hours parking free of charge at the expense of sick people.
But nearly half a million euro in a children's hospital? That's extracting the michael.


Parents of sick children attending Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, in Dublin, contributed to the hospital raising more than €460,000 in car park income last year.
According to figures provided by the HSE to Co Clare independent TD Dr Michael Harty, the amount generated by the children's hospital at Crumlin last year totalled €464,373. The sum is part of €19.25m in parking charges generated by hospitals across the country last year.
The final figure will be even higher as the HSE couldn't provide income from Galway University Hospitals, Sligo University Hospital and Letterkenny University Hospital due to reasons arising from a tendering process.
The hospital with the highest car parking income in the country was Cork University Hospital, which generated €3.1m last year.
The HSE reply to Dr Harty stated that the income from car parking charges at Cork University Hospital "forms an integral part of the hospital's budgetary policy and the net proceeds are invested back into the hospital for the provision of services".



More at

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-35668351.html
 
Yes even those that work at the hospital where we are (I presume its the same all over) have to pay, though they do get it cheaper than us minions. They shouldn't have to pay at all
 
No it's a dreadful state of affairs.

Nurses have been getting parking tickets as they have tried to avoid using hospital car parks and they have been unable to get to their cars before their ticket runs out due to being delayed at work.
 
Car parking for patients and staff should be free, it is that simple, and it is easy to implement as all patients have to report to a reception for appointments where their parking could be validated.
 
It's a total disgrace.

Such is the way the NHS has been completely decimated by various governments, that parking now forms an important revenue stream for many hospitals is utterly outrageous in my humble.
 
Wurzel - 2/5/2017 11:14

Car parking for patients and staff should be free, it is that simple, and it is easy to implement as all patients have to report to a reception for appointments where their parking could be validated.
Click to expand...

Yep, exactly what I was gong to reply........until I saw that you'd beaten me to it Rob.

 
At my local hospital they used their own security to police the car parks. People who hadn't paid would get a polite reminder on their windscreen saying that their details had been logged but no action would be taken on this occasion.
Now they have got a private company in to police it and everytime I go there I see loads of parking tickets on peoples windscreens.
Hospital trusts have now become as greedy as the other parking parasites out there. Why should I pay a fortune in tax and national insurance every month then again just to park at a place that I am paying for.
 
Of course, it is totally wrong to charge people who are ill or relatives/friends visiting their loved ones at a hospital.

Unfortunately, In my previous experience of dealing with hospital senior management, the higher up you go in the management chain the more deceitful and uncaring they become so they won't stop it.
 
Some years ago, our daughter-in-law was rushed into a central London hospital. Our son, working in Kent, drove in as quickly as he could. It was her first pregnancy; she was 21 weeks gone, and sadly, they lost the baby.
We arrived the following morning and in the late afternoon, less than 24 hours after our son had arrived, she was discharged from the hospital. The care had been both sympathethic and professional. Still, you can imagine how they felt; indeed, how the four of us felt.
From memory, it cost something like £60 to get the car out of the car park. There were no exemptions.
 
Mrs Melon is a nurse. She has a unit where she works but has to travel using her own car as part of her role. Her petrol and car allowance has not changed in years, It has has not kept up with rising petrol costs and insurance prices. On top of this it has now been suggested that the NHS will start charging her and her staff to park at her unit. The staff need to drive to work and they need to have access to their cars. They have to park at the unit. Its no wonder staff morale and retention is so low.
 
That's pathetic short sightedness on behalf of the hospital. I believe this sad state of affairs has come about because we the public have allowed it to. Maybe it's time to get militant?
 
Just another tax on people who have more important things to be worrying about.

Parking being validated, fine. People using the car parks who aren't going to hospital being fined heavily, fine.

But not this. Had a scan the other week, looked at the charges, they seemed outrageous to me. Even disabled have to pay at the Alex in Redditch. If that is the case, the ticket machines should be numerous and all around the disabled bays. They aren't.

I was in and out so quick for the scan, I missed the charges but think that is just the first hour. If it was the first 3-4hours maybe they'd have a point as that is enough time for most to have an appointment/tests etc
 
The Fear - 3/5/2017 18:43


I was in and out so quick for the scan, I missed the charges but think that is just the first hour.
Click to expand...

In the hospital where I was a guest several times last year (you all will remember the saga of my gall bladder), they give ten minutes free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.