Brief cases: couple given £100 charge in hospital car park

As Lawrie says, the problem of parking at hospitals is certainly going to get worse as my early post-war generation reaches the age when hospital attendance becomes increasingly necessary – whether for our own health needs or to visit friends and relations. Hospitals on out-of-town sites attract a very high car-borne attendance; even if there are plenty of bus services the rural timetables might make it difficult and lengthy interchanges might be necessary. Hospitals in built-up areas might not have enough space for more car parking so the local streets get clogged with parked cars making difficulties for the bus services. It is difficult to justify NHS money being spent on multi-storey car parks and shuttle bus services but access to health care is as important as the facilities themselves. Better planning might have foreseen and avoided some of the current problems. Mega hospitals might have seemed like a good idea but not enough thought was given to the access and transport consequences. The distances some people are having to travel for essential healthcare nowadays are staggering. The failure of local GP services to meet urgent and community needs is another factor. Our way around the problems in Norfolk is to stay overnight in Norwich before a hospital appointment and get the bus for the last eight miles to the hospital but not everyone has the opportunity or the ability to do that.

The nearest hospital to me is a smaller one with no A&E department and a limited range of out-patient services. Unfortunately the three entrances are alongside a busy road that had a 40 mph speed limit. There were notices reminding hospital visitors to leave their parking lights on at night but because these were ignored the road now has double yellow lines.

The biggest problem with any car park is the use of pay and display systems. This is a licence to print money because those parking will always pay for a longer period than they actually need just in case they are delayed for some reason. It is much fairer to adopt the pay on exit system so that the payment is based on the actual usage.

I have, unfortunately, been in the situation of making many visits to the local hospital for treatment, averaging 2 visits per week this year and much the same for a lot of last year. Fortunately for me, the hospital not only uses the pay on exit system but also has several concessionary systems for regular users. In my case, this is a 20 visit pass for £10 – in other words, 50p per visit and there is no time limit for each visit, on one occasion last year I parked for 4 days for 50p!

Perhaps the reason for the way this particular hospital treats car parking is that it is run by the hospital itself rather than by a private company wishing to maximise its profits.

Several comments suggest that car parking should be free at hospitals. This, unfortunately, is not a realistic aspiration. The problem is that, unless the hospital is way off the beaten track, such a car park would rapidly become full of commuters and hospital users would find it impossible to find anywhere to park. This used to be a problem at the hospital that I am attending before they started charging.

The NHS is supposed to provide care free at the time of need. Surely adding to the stress of sick people and their carers is not providing care properly. Could Which? take this aspect of the debate up through the law courts?

Supermarkets can provide adequate, free parking. It is a matter of architecture and design. If they can do it, then so can the NHS.

WOW – all change here…..Kingston Hospital are now about to charge Blue Badge holders to park from 22 January 2018 – http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/15794414.Surbiton_Crescent_restrictions_make___4_5million_in_first_year/