Increased parking charges at hospitals

New analysis by the Press Association has found that four in ten English hospitals have increased car parking charges in the last year.

Of the 124 NHS trusts which responded to the association's freedom of information requests, 53 conceded that prices had gone up for visitors or staff, or both. The findings show that, while trusts have defended the cost rises, some trusts have doubled the cost for certain stays in 2017-18.

For example, a stay of four to 24 hours at West Yorkshire's Airedale NHS Foundation Trust now costs £8, up from £3.50, while the same cost applies at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital for a five hour stay, more than double what it cost for the same length stay in October 2017.

Amongst the other trusts highlighted by the Press Association for the parking charges, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals has doubled the cost of a four-to-six hour stay to £6, but has lowered the cost of a one hour stay to £2.50. Whereas Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital has scrapped it's flat rate of £2.

Frimley Health in Surrey, one of the highest earning trusts in England, made £4,452,481 from charging staff, patients and visitors for parking in 2017/18, a rise on the £4,126,587 it made the year before. University Hospitals of Leicester also made £4,421,862 from parking in 2017/18, a 13 per cent rise on the £3,880,587 the year before. Meanwhile, North Bristol Trust, which made £2,565,595 from patients, visitors and staff in 2017/8, up on the £2,521,741 the year before, also hiked rates in 2017/18.

Judith Jolly, health spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, has stressed that parking charges were not the answer to the financial pressures facing hospitals, while Labour's Jon Ashworth described the charges as a 'tax on the sick', reiterating his party's intention to abolish them if they were to win the next General Election.

Data published by NHS Digital in October highlighted that NHS trusts made more than £226 million in 2017/18 from parking, including penalty fines.