Hospital Car Park Charges - Morally Wrong?

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by cookie_365

And if a hospital subsidises car drivers by offering free parking, it should also subsidise non-drivers by paying for anyone's tube/train/bus fare too.

But everyone has a car don'tchknow!!

Well all I know is that when they didn't have a carpark and parking charges there was no where to park at all..which is a lot worse when you finally have to park in the local area some half a mile away.If I had to go to the big central hospital with all the major outpatient clinics I couldn't leave the car behind because It would have involved two long bus journeys and a ferry trip as well just to get there by public transport.

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by Zeph

To be honest if Hostpital Car parks were free, all and sundry would park there, that's how I see it anyway

Some sort of controlled parking then? Anyway, at least one hospital I can think of offhand is miles away from any shops or stations.....no one would want to park there unless they were going to that hospital and they still have a charge......

[Cilonen]

The costs are so high because the hospital trusts outsource the parking to the national chains (ncp, etc) who also want to make a profit.

At the last hospital I worked the staff could get parking permits, but would have the (admittedly, subsidised) cost deducted from their salaries

Even the junior docs & nurses had to pay for parking, and if they tried to get away with it (say at 3am on call) they'd find themselves ticketed or even clamped. That is morally reprehensible.

[Chicken]

Originally Posted by Zeph

To be honest if Hostpital Car parks were free, all and sundry would park there, that's how I see it anyway

People would park for free! Never!
Or are you saying that when I visit Leicester General in the daytime (between 9am and about 3pm) and have to drive around for half an hour to try and find a parking space, that some of those cars parked in the carpark (or on the road outside, or on the side of the roads on double yellow lines, or just inside the carpark entrance(s) blocking off the exit and forcing you to perform a 6-point turn to get past them) are actually people who have parked and poped off to the shops or to work??


Well, I never did - he's me thinking that the hospital purposly made all the apointments in the morning just to fill the carpark up so that at visiting times (4pm - 8pm mainly) there's 90% of the carpark empty just in case everyone visiting decide to arrive in their own car at the same time and bring 6 extra cars with them....

[Paddy1]

Do the hospitals really get the money though?

http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/...tory132709.asp

[driver_problems]

there is a major hospital just up the road here that has a parasitic private company in its ground and they charge a lot (can't remember how much - but will find out) for a 'minimum four hour period' This in iself is fairly repulsive as most of the time you just need to nip in for less than an hour, but what has galled the car park administrators is the way a sort of 'union of the people' has formed and people returning to thier cars have handed over the pay and display tickets with 3 hours left on them to new parkers and so on. If the parking space has been paid for for a four hour slot then what's it got to do with the car park admin people if its not a total gouge?

the admin people have stuck up signs saying transferring tickets is not permitted to try and curb this action also

[orangebird]

Winchester Hospital is expensive. But I have to say they were great to me when my nan was dying and I couldn't leave in case she died by herself.. The nurse sent a message to the hospital parking warden with my car reg, telling them not to fine me after my ticket ran out.

Sadly, while there are unscrupulous scrotes out there that will happily use a free hospital parking space while they're out shopping, there has to be a charge. BUt they could operate how my local sports centre does regarding their car park. Get your ticket, take it into the sports centre and and get it refunded if you use their facilities.

[basa]

I've unfortunately had to use hospital car parks quite a bit just lately and in every case I have declined to either purchase a 'pay & display' ticket or been given a 'get out of car park free' voucher. Most of the nurses and doctors said they would arrange free parking even though our visits were not for life threatening situations.

(From BBC article)

....... most hospitals had exemptions from charges for patients, "and hospital staff are generally well trained in advising patients about these exemptions".

So there are provisions for long term or frequent users - no problem I reckon

[Stuart]

Our local hospital was recently demolished and rebuilt. Well, they demolished two hospitals, cut back another one and built a new hospital on the site of one of the demolished ones, but that's off topic.

When they built the new hospital, they came to some sort of arrangment with Sainsburys (who have a large supermarket next door) that if Sainsbury's took over the running of the hospital patients car park, they could extend their own carpark iinto it.

Of course, Sainsburys have taken advantage of this, and now seem to charge hospital visitors and patients whatever they like. Also, I noticed (when I used to visit my mum) that if you left after the store had closed, they often switch the lights in the Car Park off. A few times, I have gone to go back to the car, only to find myself in darkness. Surely this isn't safe.

[fatmat8]

the hospital i work in charges , but the problem was that being quite near the city centre , lots of of people where parking & walking into the city . which was a walk of some 5 minutes.
consequently ambulances had great difficulty in moving patients to a & e etc.
since charging was instigated traffic problems have decreased.
ergo i welcome having to pay for parking.
am i strange ?

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by basa

So there are provisions for long term or frequent users - no problem I reckon

Now that's interesting.....not a lot of people know that.......strangely enough......almost as if the car park management companies don't want to publicise it.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by fatmat8

the hospital i work in charges , but the problem was that being quite near the city centre , lots of of people where parking & walking into the city . which was a walk of some 5 minutes.
consequently ambulances had great difficulty in moving patients to a & e etc.
since charging was instigated traffic problems have decreased.
ergo i welcome having to pay for parking.
am i strange ?

I have to admit, the parking charges don't bother me as such. After all, somebody has got to pay for the maintenance of the car park. I would rather that money didn't come out of hospital budgets. No, what bothers me is that the part of the car park that hospital patients and staff are supposed to use gets smaller every year.

---------- Post added at 12:09 ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 ----------

Originally Posted by Paddy1

Do the hospitals really get the money though?

http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/...tory132709.asp

Sadly, that sort of thing happens all too often since the NHS was privatised, and is probably the reason for at least some of the current financial troubles.

[basa]

Totally OT but where I work we have around 3-4000 staff and the staff car parks are about 2.5 miles away ! We all get bussed into work. Whilst they are free it adds about 15-20 mins to travel times.

I cycle to work and get there quicker than by car.

[Salu]

There needs to be some form of system designed that takes into consideration the reason for your visit.
If you are called by the hospital for an outpatient's appointment then I don't think it is unreasonable to regard the parking charge as part of your treatment costs. If you had to use a patient transport ambulance then that would be paid for...

If you are having a course of chemotherapy then again it is not unreasonable to have your parking taken care of.

If you are visting an old mate who has just had his piles snipped then there is no reason why you shouldn't pay.

Working out the reason is the problem.....You could have a system where the ward clerk stamps your card to negate your ticket for example. Open to abuse though but fairer then charging everyone.

You could be sent a parking code on your admission letter but that requires someone to administrate extensions due to unforseen clinical problems etc.

There is no easy answer, well yes there is.....charge everyone, which is what they are doing.....