Hospitals are making more than £111 million a year for car parking, according to new figures.The overall amount made by NHS trusts was up from the £102 million they made the previous year, with 23 hospitals collecting more than £1 million each from parking during 2007-08.
Addenbrooke's in Cambridge came top of the list, making £2.8 million from patients, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats. Welsgrave Hospital in Coventry made £2.7 million, while Southampton General made £2 million.
The hospitals, which charge hourly rates from between of up to £4, have been accused of "taxing the sick" as many of them fail to publicise discount schemes in place for people with long-term illnesses.
Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "This is a staggering amount of money for the NHS to be making from car parking charges.
"Many hospitals are still not offering real discounts to those with chronic illnesses and are effectively operating a tax on the sick."
Duleep Allirajah, policy manager from Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "It is appalling that hospitals are making money from vulnerable patients, visitors and staff and that their profits are increasing year on year. It is morally wrong that cancer patients undergoing regular treatment for a potentially life-threatening disease should be forced to pay unavoidable travel costs such as hospital parking.
"Hospitals are either ignoring guidance issued over two years ago, which said that people travelling regularly to hospital must get free or reduced parking, or not making patients aware of the concessions they have in place."
Earlier this year the NHS Confederation said that cark parking fees were "often necessary" because running car parks was expensive, while they were also useful to deter non-visitors from taking up space.
While the NHS in England makes £111 million, charges have been abolished in all but three hospitals in Scotland while they are all being phased out in Wales.
And what happens to the money?
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2 comments:
That's terrible that persons with long-term medical conditions are being charged. It is a tax. Really, no monies should be charged. There has to be a way to have access to what they are spending the money on...if it's not going directly to hospital (building) upkeep, or to patient care somehow, then that should be published...and them flogged in the press, to pressure them to stop charging. There truly seems to be so much waste.
I asked the CEO of my local hospital where the money went, he said it was used to pay for "security".
Which is three "guards" that sit in a kiosk for eight hours a day>
A million pounds is a bit expensive for that.
Nice to see you HGF:)
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