Being pregnant is so expensive!- Hospital parking!

[HJWT]

Without even THINKING about the baby stuff, bigger clothes etc.... HOSPITAL PARKING! 🤣 iv spent £10 this week on parking! I guess it doesn't apply to people who only go for 2 scans and then to the hospital to give birth but iv been sooo many times iv spent a fortune 😬

@butternutyum Oh that was definitely the plan! We researched a load of taxi companies, Uber etc (as we knew some might not take a labouring woman). Unfortunately after about 40 hours of excruciating labour at home with a (unknown to us at the time) stuck baby, a cab felt like it wasn't an option. So we paid for parking 🤷‍♀️ which was extortionate. As was the point of the OPs post.

I have worked this out to be pretty expensive so agree with u OP. I am 22 weeks and over my countless visits due to scans, check ups etc, I have spent about £90 on parking

I honestly had no idea hospitals charged so much to park. Our local teaching hospital used to charge but it's free now and a local billionaire built a new multi-storey car park to help with the horrendous parking problems. I'm in Scotland though and think all hospitals have free parking.

Yes hospital parking is too expensive. But children in general are expensive! At least we have the wonderful free NHS to deliver them.

@ClaraLane there no reason to charge so much though, for not even a good car park. My old hospital the lines were all faded and there wasn't enough spaces.

Nhs shouldn't subsidise parking, but why is it you can pay less to park in town? Not that this applies to Camvridfe crafts where parking is also a fortune!

I'd rather pay the nhs to park, but some private company. Car parks are apparently profitable, why can't the nhs at least get in on making some money? Probably a reason somewhere. Probably because it would take about ten managers to manage a single car park.

St Thomas do give a free parking pass for actual labour/delivery (not for return trip to pick up after discharge though) but you need to ask for it. The only times they offer it is for parents leaving after a stillbirth.

Most hospitals have some sort of free parking, but it’s by condition/treatment, and you’ll probably need to ask. The one I currently attend (via public transport) does passes for those whose treatment is certain categories of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and probably other long-term frequent-appointment, immune-suppressing treatments.

Besides that, the the nhs does actually end up subsidising it anyway for outpatients appointments and whatever else. Which probably did cost a fortune.

At least expensive parking reduces the number of cars trying to get a space, as people park elsewhere/get taxis/don’t use it as a general car park when they’re going elsewhere? It is a bit rubbish all round though.

Wish there was more effort to make it easier to get to hospitals via quick, cheap public transport rather than driving. My choices for last baby were infrequent bus that takes bloody ages or £20 for a taxi.

I absolutely can feel you. I had to have CTG daily since 34 weeks and parking was quite expensive. For those suggesting walking, it was impossible as I had SPD and walking even a short distance was an agony.

I feel your pain. From 32 weeks I had weekly scans, a consultant appointment and 3 times weekly midwife checks. Of course all on different days and always running late. It cost me an absolute fortune. I was heavily pregnant in the summer heatwave so there was no option of parking further away and walking there.

I think OP might have been saying it tongue in cheek and not actually completely outraged by the parking situation. However, is it possibility to use public transport. My hospital had a bus stop within the grounds

@iVampire Well that would have been useful! But no one in my NCT group got one. And there was only a janitor to let us in to the hospital at 2am, and he wasn't giving them out. So I don't know where / when we would have got one!

If you are going regularly most hospitals have a pass available which will give you reduced rate or even free parking but you will probably need a referral from the department for it.
I went a least once a week throughout pregnancy (weekly hydrotherapy, monitoring, scans + appointments) and had a pre-paid pass (so not free but much cheaper) - I got a letter from my consultant, which I had to take to the admin reception to buy my pass which was validated every time I left the hospital. It was particularly helpful when I went to my appointment at 36weeks and was told I needed to stay.... 2 days of steroids and then a pushed up section, my car stayed in the car park for 4 days before we could get my MIL to pick it up.

I'd love to be able to take some kind of public transport to our hospital. It's massively over full and is a big teaching hospital so very busy at all times.
I've had a lot more appointments this pregnancy and had found a little hidden car park and now they've closed it to build another major extension. I now aim to get to my appointments at least an hour early as it takes ages to get round the roads to each car park. Thankfully it only usually costs about £3 a visit but I do resent how long it can take to find a space when there aren't any other good options to get there.

Feeling very lucky as i’m in wales and all of ours is free, but the odd occasion i’ve had to go into england for appts and i was shocked to find out you have to pay!

It’s free where I live too (Scotland) but there’s a good argument to be made that it shouldn’t be. People who can drive and have cars tend to be better off than people who can’t, and it’s usually cheaper to drive there than get taxis/public transport anyway even at hospitals where you have to pay for parking. So if the poorer people are already paying more, why subsidise the drivers with free parking?

I’d rather parking charges were reintroduced and money went into better public transport options/patient transport. Everyone could benefit from those, and there’d be fewer cars on the road too.

Ridiculous to suggest that because she chose to get pregnant she can't moan about the parking fees, which no-one should have to pay imo. If no-one chose to get pregnant the human race would die out.

I was at triage the other day for 4 hours, after 3 I had to move the car as sign says no return so couldn't just top up the ticket. Spent £2 on roadside parking then had to Move it into the multi storey for an hour...£3.50 so £5.50 for a 4 hour stay. Not bad if you don't have to go often but I agree it gets a lot. Then the scan pics are now £10 for three. I try and get dropped off and picked up where I can as the spaces are so tight too I worry the car will get hit. I used to park in my sister in laws street and walk 5 minutes up the road but they have now made all streets within walking distance to the hospital resident only by permits. I do agree parking shouldn't be charged for at hospitals but if they didn't charge it would be abused. Part and parcel of having babies I guess lol

People who can drive and have cars tend to be better off than people who can’t, and it’s usually cheaper to drive there than get taxis/public transport anyway even at hospitals where you have to pay for parking. So if the poorer people are already paying more, why subsidise the drivers with free parking?

I’d rather parking charges were reintroduced and money went into better public transport.

You realise the majority of people using a hospital can't use public transport yeah.

You realise the majority of people using a hospital can't use public transport yeah.

How do you think us non-drivers get there, teleport? It’s public transport, patient transport or taxi.

I was in the same situation. Visiting the hospital every week sometime for hours at a time. Cost a fortune. Unfortunately for me the visits carried on after ds was born so it's still costing a fortune and even with a blue badge we still have to pay.

It's not part and parcel of pregnancy because you only have to visit that much when things go wrong , which is obviously unexpected.

Hospital parking is a tax on the sick. It should be scrapped and taxes raised to cover the difference.

I paid £6.10 for 2 hours yesterday but I consider it a v small price to pay for access to ( excellent ) free healthcare for my child with complex needs .

@53rdWay

The majority of people using a hospital are disabled or very ill and so cant use public transport.

Yes some people use public transport but the vast majority drive not because they are rich but because they have too.

I don't mind paying parking charges as long as they are reasonable, biy when its £5 for 2 hours or more it gets unreasonable. Public transport links are not great and the hospital bus doesn't run as frequently as one would like.