Hospital Car Park Fees To Increase To Allow Investment in Improvements

Published on: 4 Sep, 2016
Updated on: 4 Sep, 2016

The Royal Surrey County Hospital is to increase hospital parking charges again, less than 12 months after the previous increase in January this year (2016).

The minimum charge for up to two-hours will increase from £3.50 to £4.

Alf Turner

Admitting that the price rise will be unpopular, deputy chief executive, Alf Turner, said: “I do not like having to increase the car parking charges and in an ideal world we would not have to charge anyone for parking at the hospital.

“Both my colleagues on the board and I know that this decision will not be a popular one, but it is an unfortunate necessity to cover our car parking project costs.

“We have listened carefully to the views of our patients, visitors and staff and they have been telling us that are current car parking provisions are inadequate and urgent changes need to be made.

“The trust’s challenging financial position means that it does not have the additional funds to invest in the future of its car parking facilities without making the incredibly difficult decisions to raise its tariffs.”

The new car-parking charges at the RSCH from October 2016

In a press statement it was said: “…the trust is continuing to receive feedback that our car parks are always very busy and many patients have to arrive unnecessarily early to find a space before their appointment.

“This is not acceptable and as a result this year the trust has invested more than £150,000 in its car parks to increase its overall capacity by 100 spaces.

“Work has also been commissioned to further develop the plans to build a multi-storey car park on the site, which it is hoped will provided a long term solution. This facility will cost at least £10million.”

Often it can be difficult to find a space at the RSCH car park

In the meantime the hospital plans to introduce a cashless payment system, costing £60,000, by Christmas.

The statement continues: “In order to advance these much-needed improvements there will be some changes to our visitor/ patient fees from October 1st, 2016. Parking for disabled users will remain free when they display the appropriate blue badge.

“The Royal Surrey County Hospital is committed to investing in and improving its car parking facilities for both its patients and visitors.
Unfortunately, this entails significant cost at a time when the NHS and this trust face financial challenge.”

The decision to increase the car parking tariffs, taken this month, is the second increase since April 2014. On-site parking charges for staff will also be increased once the discussions with trade unions have been completed.

Car park users spoken to on Sunday, September 4, had mixed views on the announcement of increases to the charges.

Peter Wismiewski who was dropping of a friend for treatment said: “I think the charges are unfair on a Sunday when there is plenty of space. In the week, Monday to Friday, it is probably fair enough but I don’t think it is fair to increase them. We do have charges for hospital car parks in Poland but they are much lower.”

One visitor thought that the charges were: “fairly steep” but added that the increases were, “fair enough,” if the extra revenue was to go to car park improvements.

But one woman, who had just parked but who did not wish to be named, said that the car park charges were: “Disgraceful. Awful. They are unjustifiable. They might be slightly more acceptable if the money will go towards improvements but I would like to know how much profit the company contacted to run the car park makes.”

Responses to Hospital Car Park Fees To Increase To Allow Investment in Improvements

Jim Allen Reply

September 4, 2016 at 3:05 pm

Mr Turner and his fellow board members could always take a cut in salary which could then be used to pay for the car park improvements.
Malcolm Fincham Reply

September 4, 2016 at 7:25 pm

I would like to know why they can’t use some of the money from the extortionate prices they already charge? Who’s pockets does that fill?
Mary Bedforth Reply

September 5, 2016 at 10:10 pm

Does all the revenue from car parking go to the NHS? I understood parking was operated by a private company CP Plus or perhaps it’s been outsourced like much of our NHS: http://www.royalsurrey.nhs.uk/car-parking-4/

The charges are out of all proportion especially if you go to the hospital every day for six weeks, as I did two years ago. Not many of us are on such high salaries as the new chief executive. An earlier Dragon report stated: “She is expected to be paid a salary of between £180,000 to £185,000, in line with NHS pay scales for her appointment.”

A ‘turnaround’ executive who worked at the hospital earlier this year was being paid £60,000 a month at another hospital, Kings College, where the previous RSCH chief executive now works. I trust that this turnaround gentleman was not paid at the same rate when at the RSCH: https://www.royalsurrey.nhs.uk/royal-surrey-welcomes-the-support-of-nhs-improvement/
Sue Fox Reply

September 7, 2016 at 12:41 pm

The most outrageous charge is for oncology patients. Five years ago there was a dedicated car park which was only available to oncology patients who have enough problems without this cost a piece of card showing dates it could be used. It was frequently full with a queue but everyone just left their cars and retrieved them when treatment was over or if they were driven to the hospital found their driver afterwards.
- Martin Elliott Reply
  
  September 7, 2016 at 5:11 pm
  
  As an oncology patient I can assure you, as the report mentions in costs, that there still is a dedicated car park. You still need a pass, issued for three months, by the clinic.
  
  Again as said in the article, the cost is £3.50 (to rise to £4.00) a day, with a slight discount for the whole week, if on a daily treatment.
  
  The car park is frequently full, but you can’t have everything. There are only a few inconsiderate users who, for instance, nip in through the exit to avoid the queue.
Bibhas Neogi Reply

September 9, 2016 at 5:53 pm

Can Mr Turner provide some comparative charges made for other hospital car parks in the county?

Frimley Park Hospital currently charges £3 for up to two hours. How did they manage to fund the additional decking for their car park?

Guildford Borough Council should build a Park & Ride near the hospital to ease parking problems. I am aware that something is in the pipeline but they should speed things up and do something now instead of buying properties in the town centre.

It is unfortunate that Onslow Park & Ride is underused and yet hospital visitors cannot use it. It is underused because Highways Agency (now Highways England) was unable to provide direct access from the A3 when their A3 improvement scheme was withdrawn by the government. Hopefully they will do the necessary now that the scheme has been resurrected.