hospital car parking charges

pianeet

Geoggy wrote:

it isnt a money making ploy.

it covers the cost of the external security contractors to manage the car parks and provide a secure parking environment.

all hospitals have schemes whereby regular attenders can get discounts.

try calling you PAL co-ordinator (patient liason person - hospital switch will put you through) to enquire.

why is it not advertised? good point. maybe we should sack a few nurses and spend the cash on PR advice?

hi geoggy

you say it is not a money making scheme but the figures just dont add up even if a hospital only had 100 parking spaces and charged only £1 per hour for the six hours visiting per day they would still generate £218,000 per year,and i am sure the two old boys in luminous coats patrolling the car parks are not on £100,00 pounds each, bare in mind most hospitals have about 400 spaces and you can see it is a way of raising an extra million a year,

basically it is another stealth tax

jamescredmond

I was in hospital for a week last year with suspected cancer. my wife visited every day and duly paid the parking charge. It then occurred to her that perhaps there might be a weekly ticket, even though the contractor didn't specify this on his charge list. sure enough, there was! Brillaint! My mind was on other things at the time but I managed a laugh when she told me.

as for a 'finite pot of money' consider this: nhs spending has consistently outstripped inflation over the past 8 years and looks like it will continue to do so in the coming years. we could argue about whether this cash is actually improving patient care but that would be for another day.

the hospital in my area introduced parking charges in the 80's, when the area health authority argued that underfunding was harming health care delivery.
this argument is no longer sustainable.

littleange'a point that nothing is within walking distance IS relevant. If there are no amenities close by the charges should reflect the cost of maintenance/supervision and nothing more. Near a town centre a charge identical to the council parking charge should be levied ( to prevent town users sneaking a cheap park place). anything more is simply a cash grab.

When it comes to security, exactly what security is dmg24 referring to? perhaps the sort that comes with a disclaimer that you park at your own risk with 'security' people busy checking displayed parking tickets?

The advice to sammyD 'if people don't like it go private' is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. The obvious reply is: WHY THE HELL SHOULD WE?
we pay through the nose as it is! What kind of logic dictates that if you have a concern with a service that you - yes you - have paid for you solve it by simply walking away? Bent out of shape, obviously.

gregg1

I am going to play devil's advocate here but at our local hospital I actually think the parking charges have improved things. Before, if you visited the hospital you could never find a parking spot as they were being used by people going to the nearby shopping centre (obviously not all of them but quite a few). Now there are new parking charges I can always park without any problem and am always on time for appointments as I am not ratting round for half an hour trying to find a space.

But I do understand it must be tought for people on limited incomes and people who have relatives and friends in hospital for long periods (although our hospital does have a quite big reduction for weekly parking tickets).

dmg24

you say it is not a money making scheme but the figures just dont add up even if a hospital only had 100 parking spaces and charged only £1 per hour for the six hours visiting per day they would still generate £218,000 per year,and i am sure the two old boys in luminous coats patrolling the car parks are not on £100,00 pounds each, bare in mind most hospitals have about 400 spaces and you can see it is a way of raising an extra million a year,

piannet,

You are obviously not in business are you?!! Do you think that the money is only used to pay the wages of the security guards?

It strikes me that most of the people posting on here know absolutely nothing about what goes into running a car park (ANY car park).

littleange

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4850562.stm

littleange

dmg24 wrote:

littleange,

You do pay for parking at St James'.

You would have been able to get a weekly ticket at a reduced rate. You just need to ask.

My mum probably wasn't thinking about "how can I save money on parking" when my grandad was ill, she just did it. He only wen't in for some tests, she didn't know he was going to be in for 2 weeks, you cant really plan ahead in that situation, each day she went in she was hoping they would let him come home.

jamescredmond

dmg24 wrote:

piannet,

You are obviously not in business are you?!! Do you think that the money is only used to pay the wages of the security guards?

It strikes me that most of the people posting on here know absolutely nothing about what goes into running a car park (ANY car park).

heh heh! there y'are dmg24! where've y'been?!
so what's the mystery of running a car park, eh?
carry out market research
meet set-up costs
minimise overheads
maximise rturns
simple.
oh, and a hospital car park is especially juicy as the customer is unlikely to baulk at high charges as he/she is preoccupied with other matters......like 'will my partner/child /relative/friend make it through?'
kerrrchingg! A nice little earner and no mistake!

but I have no problem with people making a good living. only with sleazeball chancers always on the look-out to turn a fast buck and their apologists.

dmg24

Diabolical. I'd demand compensation.

jamescredmond

littleange_com wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4850562.stm

thank you littleange.
qed.
surprising, don't you think, how some people feel comfortable profiting from some of society's most vulnerable.

teb_2

Exact same thing happened last week with us. emergency trip to A&E, we were picked up from a playing field where we'd been watching a football match. no wallet or purse. partner went in ambulance and I had to drive behind, no time to go home or do anything.

Got out of A&E at 3.30am and was stuck in car park. if it wasn't for a nurse who took pity on us and gave us a fiver, we'd still be there! (and yeah we went back the next day with the fiver)

No problem with paying the parking charges but there should be some policy in place to deal with people in our position at that time of night. wouldn't kill their profit too much to give out parking tokens in cases like this would it?