LORELY LISTENS - SOLIHULL TIMES

Published on Wed 16th Aug 2006

Hospital parking charges have been the subject of complaints from many of you recently. One constituent had paid over £300 in hospital parking charges over the course of three months' treatment for cancer, and one of my staff who is disabled had to pay parking charges to park in disabled bays - 'it wasn't cheap,' she said.

The other side of the coin is that not everyone is fortunate enough to have a car. People who are relatively able-bodied have the option of taking public transport and if the hospital trust do not charge for car parking, which costs money to provide, the cost must be found from taxpayers, whether they use the car park or not. And if money is used for car park administration it cannot be used for hospital services.

I wrote to the Heart of England Trust to ask about their charging policy. Firstly, why introduce charges for disabled people for car parking? Surely they have enough to put up with already? The Trust say that they had had many complaints from disabled users about availability and distance of car parking spaces from where they need to go. Also many thoughtless people were parking in disabled spaces without displaying a disabled badge (I doubt those people would appreciate having the disability to go along with the badge!)

In response the Trust have built some new disabled spaces and pick up/drop off spaces at strategic points at both hospitals. Signs advertising a £25 'fine' for not displaying a sign are effectively deterring the able bodied from illegal parking.

My second query was about the cost of parking for frequent users of the car park. One angry constituent had complained he paid over £300 in charges during a course of cancer treatments.

I am pleased to report that discounted tickets for multiple visits are available. Three and seven day tickets can be bought for £7 and £14 respectively, and if you're unlucky enough to be visiting longer term you can ask for 14 and 28 day tickets at £20 and £32. If you need to visit for a course of treatment over a period you can buy a book of 20 tickets to be used over 90 days for £26. Visit under 15 minutes are free of charge.

Anyone receiving income-related benefits has always, and will continue to park free of charge.

No one will be delirious with joy at the thought of visiting a hospital (unless it's to visit the maternity unit), but I think on balance it is fair that those using an optional facility who can pay should contribute towards the cost if the alternative is reduced medical services for everyone.

However, I wonder how many of you knew about the arrangements for multiple visits? Certainly the gentleman who paid over £300 over three months didn't: he needed only to have paid a small fraction of that.

The Trust say there are notices regarding the charging policy at entry and exit barriers and the parking offices. I have written asking if they can look at making these more prominent and informative, but meanwhile if you know anyone who is unfortunate enough to be a frequent visitor to our hospitals, please check they know about the discounts available.

If you would like a copy of the report please email me at burtl@parliament.uk, call 0121 706 9593 or write to me at 41 Warwick Road, Solihull B92 7HS