Car Parking Charges Reduced at Royal Surrey

Published on: 2 Jul, 2019
Updated on: 3 Jul, 2019

By Chris Jewers

New parking fees have been set at Royal Surrey County Hospital in response to feedback from patients and visitors.

Weekly parking passes for cancer patients and Blue Badge holders will be reduced by a third.

The Trust is rolling out a new travel plan which includes potentially leasing additional parking spaces for staff at neighbouring businesses, subsidising public transport for staff giving up parking permits and investment in new cycle facilities.

Ross Dunworth, the Trust’s director of finance and lead for estates, said: “Parking is probably the biggest frustration for our patients, visitors and staff. We hope that increasing provision and choice will make commuting for colleagues easier.

“These initiatives will not immediately solve the issue but the Trust will continue to look at other options and work with staff representatives.”

A new train station adjacent to the hospital could open by 2024.

The new charges came into force on July 1, 2019. They are:

Up to 1 hour – £3.40

Up to 2 hours – £4.50

Up to 3 hours – £5.00

Up to 4 hours – £5.50

Up to 6 hours – £6.50

Up to 24 hours/Daily Rate – £9.50

Weekly – £20.50

Oncology / Blue badge holders – £4.00 (per day)

Oncology / Blue badge holders weekly – £10.00

The issue of hospital parking has often been debated at a national level, with hospitals in the UK making £174m from parking charges in 2017.

Many have branded the charges as a “tax on sickness”, but hospitals say that it provides a key source of income that is reinvested in the NHS. It has previously been reported that car park charges at the RSCH have been some of the highest in the country.

For more information visit https://www.royalsurrey.nhs.uk/patients/getting-here/

Responses to Car Parking Charges Reduced at Royal Surrey

Paul Bishop Reply

July 4, 2019 at 7:06 am

Good to see the prices going in the right direction.
Ray Carlton Reply

July 14, 2019 at 4:21 pm

Am I reading this correctly? Charges reduced?

Earlier this year the charge was £4 for 2 hours – now it’s £4.50 for two hours. You might be able to get a ticket for £3.40 for one hour, but that won’t cover any normal visit. And no-one is going to pay for one hour when they’ve queued for half an hour.

Even George Orwell couldn’t better this one!
Jenny Grove Reply

July 17, 2019 at 12:29 pm

Some car parking charges may have been reduced but the first two bands are extortionate, and the article raises the ethical question of whether hospitals should be taking car parking profits as a “key source of income that is reinvested in the NHS”.

No one chooses to be at the hospital. They are either there for an appointment or visiting loved ones, and to target people, largely at times of stress, with excessive parking charges on the basis that profits go to the hospital is pretty sickening.

The NHS funds the hospital, and we all know that there is not and never will be sufficient money from any government to cover all costs, so many people make donations and support all kinds of fundraising to improve the quality of their local hospital. These are monies given freely and generously, often as a thank you for the care and kindness of hospital staff. So why is excessive money extorted from us when we have to park on their seemingly hallowed ground? £3.40 for one hour is disgusting and so is an average £2.25 per hour for a two-hour park. It is stated that £174m went to UK hospitals in 2017. That is an enormous amount of profit.

This is not just car parking. It is car parking plus!