NHS hospitals make millions in car park charges (Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats)

Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats <info@saffronwaldenlibdems.org.uk>

NHS hospitals make millions in car park charges

September 26, 2009 2:04 PM

Stephen Robinson, Norman Lamb MP, and Peter Wilcock outside Broomfield Hospital

NHS hospitals made over £110m in parking charges last year, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. The figures, revealed in a Freedom of Information request, show that visitors were charged £84 million in parking fees and NHS staff were charged £28 million.

The research also revealed that Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge made the most out of any hospital with £2.8 million in total from parking charges.

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Saffron Walden, Peter Wilcock said:

"This is a staggering amount of money for the NHS to be making from car parking charges. It is effectively a tax on the sick."

"No one is denying the need for hospitals to cover their costs but that doesn't mean they can use hidden charges to help themselves out of financial black holes. Ministers have ducked this issue for far too long and failed to ensure that Government guidelines are actually being followed."

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Chelmsford, Stephen Robinson added:

"I raised the charging issue when I met Broomfield hospital managers last year and will do so again. Mid Essex Hospitals must cut their "tax" on patients - excessive car park charges, high bedside phone and TV charges and expensive 0844 phone numbers.

"We now need an urgent review into whether hardworking doctors and nurses and the chronically ill should be paying these charges at all."