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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cost of hospital parking!

66 replies

Cloeycat · 14/02/2017 08:16

Can someone tell me if they NHS or the car park companies get the money you pay for parking at the hospital?

I have been in and out a lot lately for 1hr appts that have taken 7/8hrs or resulted in admission and it is costing me an absolute fortune in parking, I don't know anyone locally so can't have someone else drop and collect me. Now I don't mind so much paying the parking fees if they go back into the NHS but if it goes to the parking company I'm going to start feeling v v resentful. I know some hospitals do a day rate for inpatients and appts that run over but mine doesn't.

OP posts:
DrivingMeBonkers · 14/02/2017 09:01

I never buy a ticket, I've never received a ticket either. Maybe down to luck but no hospital will take the risk of an a'la Daily Mail spread my X was on a trolly in A&E for 3 days and I couldn't top up my ticket and I got a £60 fine

Groovee · 14/02/2017 09:01

One of our hospitals are astronomical prices and is the main hospital but they were locked into a contract. While the others are free but with limited parking.

Jellybean83 · 14/02/2017 09:03

Sirzy ah there goes my theory then. I just presumed it would cut down on people taking longer than they need, people parking for free and walking into town or anyone who lived locally to walk/get the bus, which to be fair I do mostly when it's just an appointment and not a procedure I'm having. (But it is nice to drive when it's cold and raining)

All my local hospitals are free parking so I don't actually know for sure if the paid parking would work.

randomsabreuse · 14/02/2017 09:03

Worst hospital for parking around us is the most expensive so free parking doesn't help. It's a regional centre serving a well and truly Beechinged area... others we've been to have had days when you just can't get parked but normally better than this one.

CostaAddict · 14/02/2017 09:04

Itisnoteasy I'm in Scotland and I can assure you none of my local hospitals have free parking, apart from our local community hospital which is due to be torn down and rebuilt. The new hospital will not have free parking.

I've have spent many years doing daily commutes to hospital. Our local children's hospital is a pay & display on street parking with no car park. It's awful and many parents get parking tickets.

I don't mind paying for parking however wish we could benefit from a cheaper flat rate instead of the £7 rate me & DH were playing daily.

dylsmimi · 14/02/2017 09:04

Hospitals I've been to (North west) didn't have a flat rate and one insisted on the right money! Which was no hope when you had had 'the call'!
When I had ds there was a 24hr rate which was about a £1 more than the 6 hrs so worth getting.
That and the fucking tv charges it doesn't feel like a free to access nhs!

Writerwannabe83 · 14/02/2017 09:05

Where I work it's £9.60 if you're over 6 hours. I have to use the car parks as I'm not entitled to use the staff car park (very long waiting list) so it costs me just under £120 a month to park at work Wine

The average wait for a staff car park pass is 2.5 years and £50 a month comes out of your pay packet for it.

It's really shit.

SmokyMountains · 14/02/2017 09:11

Our parking ticket in the official car park of a london hospital cost £504 when we had DS....routine appointment turned into an unexpected CS and 7 day stay.....he was worth it but Shock

lalalalyra · 14/02/2017 09:16

In Scotland they are not allowed to charge for parking at hospitals. Perfect solution.

Someone forgot to tell Glasgow Royal that. Their carpark is around £1.50 an hour or so from what I remember.

jcne · 14/02/2017 09:18

i think most of the time it is hospital owned and thus goes back to the hospital. parking eye etc are just enforcements contracted in by the hospital. there has been some ~controversy in the news about how much some trusts make from their parking.

Piratefairy78 · 14/02/2017 09:25

Addenbrookes is expensive. We spent over £50 visiting My brother for a weeks stay in there. They are NCP so kind of expected it. However when he was in intensive care my parents were given a parking pass that let them park for a week for a nominal fee. Think it was £3.50. The fact they didn't have to worry about the price of parking was brilliant.

Leanin15yearsmaybe · 14/02/2017 09:26

Car park fees go back to our hospitals but the money from parking tickets given out by the private company that 'police' the area is kept by them. Each day I see between 20-50 ticketed cars parked quite unobtrusively in their unlit potholed spaces in the staff car parks, behind barriers, barriers accessed only by staff passes. Passes paid for monthly by staff. The amount of people that pay these and line the greedy feckers pockets make me AngrySad

Wow writer that's insane! Both the time wait and the price!!

KidLorneRoll · 14/02/2017 09:30

Parking is free at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and it's a pain in the arse. As soon as it switched from pay to free getting a parking space after about 8am became an absolute nightmare. People use it as a free park and ride, parking at the hospital and then walking/getting the bus into town. It was always bad, but much worse since then.

Ideally, there would be a ticketing system that requires a ticket that can be validated when you check into whatever department you are attending, but I am aware that is just another administrative burden

LurkingHusband · 14/02/2017 09:50

The one thing they got right at the new QE in Birmingham is the parking (run by "QPark")

It's pay on exit (no overspending on P&D).
They take debit/credit cards (no needing to keep a bowl of obsolete coins in the car).
They issue a season ticket for a week, if you are in every day.
Blue badge parking is free.

They also designed it with excellent bus links.

Yes, you are still paying. But at least it's the least part of the the hassle.

KatieB55 · 14/02/2017 10:14

I often pay to park on a private drive close to the hospital - it's easy to pre-book online and you don't waste time queuing to get in/out of the hospital car park.

ditzychick34 · 14/02/2017 10:21

I've yet to find a Scottish hospital that is free to park and I've been around

RueDeWakening · 14/02/2017 10:25

Our hospital car park is pay on exit - first 20 minutes free, then £3 for the first hour I think, rising until it's £15 or so for a full day. It's too small though, and if you have an afternoon appointment it's almost impossible to get a space which is why all my appointments are at 10am though at least the staff car park is separate.

If you have a child in NICU or are having dialysis (and possibly other stuff, not sure) then you can get a weekly car park pass for £5, you need a nurse to sign a car park form that you take to the office to swap it for a pass.

Groovee · 14/02/2017 11:20

Ditzy the western in Edinburgh is free!

NinaMarieP · 14/02/2017 11:35

Ninewells in Dundee is also not free. Even then it's nearly impossible to get a space. We had to park at least a mile away and walk so I nearly missed my 12 week scan and we had arrived 30 minutes early. Apparently staff on the late shift have to be there an hour before they start to get a space.
As far as the price goes it's not too bad (assuming you aren't unlucky enough to have to pay it every day). It's £2.20 for 2 hours in the short stay, or £2.20 to leave the long stay no matter how long you were there.

Jellybean83 · 14/02/2017 13:32

Ditzy Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Royal Children's hospital and my local hospital the RAH all have free parking, my brother was in the Royal Jubilee not long ago and that is also free parking. I've actually never been to a Scottish hospital that does charge, I think the only one I know of is the Vale of Leven as I vaguely remember my mum moaning about it when she went there.

Wellthatsit · 14/02/2017 13:54

I think it's dundee, Glasgow Royal, and Edinburgh Royal which charge because they are PFI hospitals so are locked into a contract. There is a good park and ride for eri, but don't know way out the others. Edinburgh Western is a bit of a nightmare to park at even if you are having chemo or something like that. They have full time parking at tendentious to manage the in and out for patients. But is is free! If public transport was better it would solve a lot of problems for people.

Wellthatsit · 14/02/2017 13:57

Forgot to add, to the poster who said that English taxes are funding free parking in Scotland, you do not understand how the Scottish NHS works. Scotland chooses to fund parking from its overall fund. It will mean something else is less well funded elsewhere. The Scottish NHS is a separate organisation from the English one and English taxes is not subsidising Scottish parking.

ratspeaker · 14/02/2017 13:58

Hospitals in Scotland built under PFI had parking contracts which could not be recinded under the free parking initiative. So newer hospitals, ie those built recently with car parks charge for parking.
St Johns at Livingston and Western General dont have parking charges but very little space to actually park
ERI does.
Sick Kids doesnt have a car park so you have to park in the surrounding streets which is in the council controlled zone.
I have no idea at the moment what the positin will be when the new Sick Childrens hospital is completed at Little France.

A lot of hospitals were built before people used cars so parking was not considered.

lalalalyra · 14/02/2017 17:25

The Beatson at Gartnavel doesn't charge, but the parking situation is ridiculous. They also fine if you park for longer than 4 hours unless you have a blue badge - which when a clinic regularly runs more than 2 1/2 hours late can be an expensive day. "luckily" my relative is getting chemo so gets a thing to put in the window to exempt from the 4 hour thing.