PARKING in a Greater Manchester hospital averages between £3 and £4.50 an hour, whereas it’s almost a decade ago since the Scottish government abolished hospital car park charges across most of their sites.
In December, 2008 the Scottish government abolished car park charges across most hospitals in move that was welcomed by pressure groups, staff and patients.
However, eight years later the NHS in England are still charging patients a fee to park at hospitals across the country. In Manchester, there are a number of trusts that enforce a car park charges only offering patients 30 minutes for free.
Across all Greater Manchester’s hospitals car parking is controlled by a board of NHS trust members. Some sites are enforced by the private firm ‘Parking Eye’ which uses automatic number plate recognition to fine non-payers up to £100.
But organisations such as the Macmillan Cancer Support charity have condemned the price of parking at hospital car parks across England.
Laura Keely, spokesperson of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Cancer patients often need to make frequent trips to hospital…they should not be left out of pocket in order to receive life-saving treatment.”
She also highlighted that cancer patients can suffer the effects of treatment leaving patients tired, sick and weak as well as comparing prices in England to those elsewhere.
“Car parking is free at most hospitals in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales but not across all hospitals in England…those in charge of hospital car parking have a responsibility to ensure that their schemes work for vulnerable people” said Laura.
MAPPED: Manchester’s main hospitals and the cheapest car park ticket available. Note that the price is for 30 minutes.
The cost to park at Manchester’s main hospitals varies in price. It would seem towards Cheshire, hospitals such as Stepping Hill, Stockport, Wythenshawe and Warrington are somewhat triple the cost of hospitals which are North of the city centre. The Royal Bolton Hospital, North Manchester and Royal Oldham are among the cheapest.
Stepping Hill Hospital, which belongs to the Stockport NHS Foundation trust, is the most costly and charges patients £3.50 for two hours, £5.50 for between two to four hours and £8.00 for more than 4 hours.
“Unpopular but necessary”
Ben Granger, Communications Officer at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, acknowledged that although the prices of car parking at Stepping Hill are unpopular, it is necessary to charge patients staying longer than 30 minutes to ensure that funds set aside for patient services aren’t affected.
He said: “It is important to ensure that money for patient care is not used for car park maintenance, the cost of maintaining car parks and hospital roadways, as well as paying for car park security, is increasing year on year.”
Stepping Hill patients can access a range of car park discounts for those who are disabled, suffer from dementia, cancer patients and pregnant.
However, Salford Royal Hospital charges a cheaper, but substantial rate of £2.00 for three hours, £3.00 for four hours, and £6.00 for up to eight hours parking with the option to also purchase a weekly ticket at a discount.
Laura Maley, Communications and Engagement Manager, at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust explained that while car park ticket charges cover the cost of a hospital car park, the money received also contributes to the departmental budget that helps maintain car parking facilities.
“The monies received from car parking income form the part of the facilities department budget and are used to maintain the car parking facility. Increases are only put in place once agreed with staff and our council of governors” Laura said.
At present there are no plans for any hospitals across Greater Manchester to offer patients free car parking, some trusts offer discounted car parking for patients that are vulnerable or expected to be admitted for a prolonged period of time.
By Jim Scott
@Jim_Scott12
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