UK Hospital car parks make millions - PBX Info :: Your Free PBX, PABX and Telephone Information Resource

***JulianW*** · 03-28-2006, 07:10 AM

Patients can be charged up to £30 a day for parking

Hospitals in England are each charging their patients up to £1.5m a year for car parking, the BBC has learned. Twelve hospital trusts each raised over £1m in charges, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.
The Department of Health said it was up to NHS trusts to decide what to charge, and said charges deterred non-service users from using the car parks.
But Macmillan Cancer Relief said it was "morally wrong" to raise revenue by forcing patients to pay for parking.

The hospitals earning the most from car parks tended to be the larger trusts treating more patients.
The Department of Health figures suggest that one trust, University Hospital Birmingham, raised £1.5 million from car parking charges in 2004-5.
But the trust says this is the revenue from the car parks from three health trusts on four hospital sites; the two sites of the University Hospital Birmingham, the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Hospital and the Women's Hospital.
A spokeswoman said: "We actually have one of the lowest charges for car parking in the country, this high revenue figure is due to the fact that a lot of people are using these spaces."

The two University Hospital Birmingham sites serve more than 553,000 people a year.
Of the £1.5m revenue, £1m was pumped into the costs of running the car parks and a shuttle bus from the local train station, while the rest was invested back into patient care.

Flat rate
The Cambridge University NHS Foundation Trust also raises more than £1m from its car parks.
The trust's car parks serve two hospitals, the large 1,100-bed Addenbrooke's and the Rosie Hospital for women and charge a flat rate of £2.50.

A spokeswoman said the income paid for improvements such as external lighting, walkways, cycle racks and ways, security and improved car park and travel facilities.

Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust raised just over £1m from its car parks over two hospital sites.
A spokeswoman said: "In direct response to local demand, we have considerably expanded the number of spaces available and also ensured a good standard of lighting, security, etc... investing some £1.2m in car park expansion and improvements in the last six years."

A spokeswoman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, which raised more than £1.2m from its car parks, pointed out it was one of the largest trusts in the country, with approximately 1,200 patient and visitor parking spaces, split across four separate sites.
"The hospital car parks are not run as a commercial operation and all money raised goes directly back into services for patients and visitors.
"The average cost of a three-hour stay at the John Radcliffe Hospital, the biggest of the four sites, is only £1.50."

'Morally wrong'
A Department of Health spokeswoman said parking charges helped hospitals because they discouraged people who were not using the hospital from taking up the car park spaces.
She added that most hospitals had exemptions from charges for patients, "and hospital staff are generally well trained in advising patients about these exemptions".
"Ultimately, it is a matter for individual NHS trusts to decide whether or not to charge for car parking, and the level of charges in the light of local circumstances."
Macmillan Cancer Relief has been campaigning to end hospital parking charges, especially for cancer patients who make frequent hospital trips for treatment.
The charity's chief executive Peter Cardy said: "Raising revenue by forcing cancer patients to pay for hospital car parking is morally wrong.
"It is shameful that the sickest and most vulnerable people have to pay the most. Hospital car parking costs are often the final straw in a long line of extra costs faced by cancer patients."

slagburn · 03-28-2006, 09:58 AM

In downtown LA parking will typically run $25 - $30 a day, in many cases they've let private companies take over the parking lots and they actually charge the city / county employees to park there.

***JulianW*** · 03-28-2006, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slagburn

In downtown LA parking will typically run $25 - $30 a day, in many cases they've let private companies take over the parking lots and they actually charge the city / county employees to park there.

Slag: this is the parking lot for a hospital! These people are mainly here to visit sick relatives and they're still being charged upto £30 ($51) per day.

slagburn · 03-28-2006, 10:11 AM

The prices are higher but it's pretty normal to pay to park at most hospitals here (LA) ... usually around $20 something a day.

***JulianW*** · 03-28-2006, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slagburn

The prices are higher but it's pretty normal to pay to park at most hospitals here (LA) ... usually around $20 something a day.

That seems to be te real gripe over here though, the cost, at $20 (£12) it's not too bad, not good, but not too bad at $50 (£30) it's felt to be exhorbitant. Most of the schemes are contracted out to specialist firms who are them declaring huge profits for the year and the hospitals are just sitting back and asking what the problem is as any surplus gets spent by them back onto the wards (The one I heard this morning was that £1.5 million was charged by one hospital trust in car parking fees for the year and 300,000 was kept by them and the other £1.2 million went in payments to the contracting company! Might be time for a career change.

)

slagburn · 03-28-2006, 10:21 AM

Y'all pay more for everything than we do here...

The best ones are the guys who take over the business parking lots near staples and the convention center on weekends... I've seen a parking space go for as much as $60 a day during big events.

Pirates_Ghost · 03-28-2006, 10:25 AM

They'd REALLY bring in the dosh if they set up the car park in such away that it CAUSED more Casulty cases

Then you'd have people still having to park, AND more clientle.

***JulianW*** · 03-28-2006, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slagburn

Y'all pay more for everything than we do here...

The best ones are the guys who take over the business parking lots near staples and the convention center on weekends... I've seen a parking space go for as much as $60 a day during big events.

Don't even go there, on the match days of the local football club the pubs and the nearest secondary school rent out spaces in their carparks for £6. I went to a rugby league final at Old Trafford a couple of years ago and parking anywhere near the ground was £30! If you didn't mind walking a mile of two you could park for £10 for the day though.

***JulianW*** · 03-28-2006, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pirates_Ghost

They'd REALLY bring in the dosh if they set up the car park in such away that it CAUSED more Casulty cases

Then you'd have people still having to park, AND more clientle.

Wouldn't help things over here as casualty as all NHS work is free (except dentistry) so no more revenue would be produced.

***papa-bear*** · 03-28-2006, 11:00 AM

There is still alot of free parking around the city here. down town the most expensive seems to be $12/day unless they charge by the 1/2 hour with not limit at typically $1/30 min. Most people avoid them when they can.

Loads of parking meters showing up so street parking around venues is a premium as they typically have a 2 hour limit at the meters and will ticket you even if you refill it.

I always wondered why patients in hospitals had to pay for parking. I can see visitors but not patients. Set it up so when you check in they add your plate # to the list so when the parking cops check they only ticket/tow the visitors who don't pay.

such is life, everything has to make a buck.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes	Rate This Thread
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode	Rate This Thread:

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)