National Health Service hospital parking

In the United Kingdom, various NHS hospitals charge patients and staff for parking. In Scotland and Wales car parking fees were largely abolished in 2008. As of April 2022, NHS organisations in England may optionally charge patients, visitors or staff for parking, the temporary suspension of fees during COVID-19 having been lifted. The cost of hospital parking is a controversial topic, with opponents in England criticising the charges.

A sign in a hospital car park in Cromer reminding people to pay for parking.

Rationale for parking charges

The cost of running secure car parking is substantial. If a surplus is generated it is used to pay for healthcare. In many hospital sites there is a shortage of car parking space and making it free will encourage people to come to hospital by car without generating any extra space. Where hospital parking is already free it may be used by people who are not visiting the hospital, and it does nothing to discourage the inappropriate use of cars.[1]

Many NHS car park have been funded under PFI arrangements, with a private operator funding the investment to build and operate the car park in exchange for a proportion of the fees generated.[2]

Arguments against parking charges

Parking charges at hospitals have been criticised for their particular impact on elderly people. The Daily Telegraph stated in 2012 that elderly people were more likely to travel to the hospital by car than other groups.[3]

Parking charges by country

England

A third of hospitals in England increased their care parking charges in 2019. The total raised from parking fees was £254 million. A survey of 7,800 people found 86% said parking added to the stress of their hospital visit and they described the fees as a "rip-off", "extortionate" and "astronomical". Car parking fees were an issue in the 2019 United Kingdom general election.[4] After the election Matt Hancock announced that all the 206 NHS hospital trusts in England would be expected to provide free car parking from April 2020 to people that may be frequent hospital visitors, or those disproportionately impacted by daily or hourly charges for parking, including blue badge holders, frequent outpatient attenders, parents staying overnight with sick children in hospital, and NHS staff working nightshifts.[5] This timetable was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in England but NHS England ordered NHS trusts to permanently offer free car parking to night shift staff and some patient groups from April 2021.[6]

Scotland

Claims by the Scottish National Party in 2019 that parking fees have been removed from all NHS hospitals in Scotland have been contested because there are still fees at Ninewells Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, set up as part of the private finance initiative deals.[7] However, in 2021, the Scottish Government announced that the charges would be abolished after reaching a £35 million deal to buy car parks at those hospitals. [8]

Wales

There have been attacks on cars in the car park at Wrexham Maelor Hospital which apparently is not adequately supervised. Local residents have called for charges to pay for better security.[9]

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board permit free parking for four hours and an additional four hours free by entering their registration into electronic screens in the hospitals. From February 2020 they are proposing to reduce the additional hours to two, to "reduce inappropriate parking on hospital sites". The Community Health Council say that problems are caused by administration and non-clinical staff abusing the system when they should be using the park and ride system.[10]

Northern Ireland

From 2016/17 to 2018/19 the Northern Ireland health trusts collected £15,673,977 from hospital car parking charges. More £2.8 million of that was charges for staff parking. Charges are decided individually by the trusts. The campaign group Patient Voice NI said no patient or employee should have to pay to park at a hospital.[11]

Financial help

People who do have to pay charges may be eligible for help under the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme.

References
  1. Ramanauskas, Ben (28 November 2019). "It may be popular, but scrapping hospital parking charges would be a total disaster". City AM. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  2. "NHS hospital car parking policies in the UK". parliament.uk. House of Commons Library. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  3. Ross, Tim (16 November 2012). "NHS hospitals charge patients up to £3 an hour for parking". The Daily Telegraph.
  4. "A third of hospitals 'increased parking charges'". BBC. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  5. "Free hospital parking for thousands of NHS patients, staff and carers". Building Better Healthcare. 23 January 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  6. "NHSE orders trusts to meet government commitment on free parking". Health Service Journal. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  7. "SNP bosses urged to withdraw 'offensive' claims party has scrapped parking charges at all NHS hospitals". The Courier. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  8. "All hospital car parking charges in Scotland to be scrapped". BBC News. 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  9. "Leader readers had their say on ongoing safety issues at Wrexham Maelor car park". The Leader. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  10. "Cardiff and Vale hospitals". Wales Online. 15 January 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  11. "Northern Ireland hospital parking raises £15.5m- including £2.8m from NHS staff". Belfast Telegraph. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
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