Hospital Refuses To Say How Much It Collects In Car Park Fees

Published on: 14 Sep, 2016
Updated on: 16 Sep, 2016

The Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) Trust is refusing to say how much it collects in car park fees. Last week it was controversially announced that the fees would be raised again in October, for the second time this year.

The increase is necessary, the trust has said, to finance car park improvements. The following answers to questions posed by The Guildford Dragon NEWS are as provided by a hospital spokesperson:

Question: Who runs the car park on behalf of the RSCH?

Answer: There is a combined management process between the [RSCH] Trust and a third party supplier. CP Plus provide the staff and manage the revenue collection on behalf of the trust. All other aspects of the car parking provision are managed by the trust.

Question: When was the contract awarded and when is it due to be renewed? Will a competition be mandatory?

Answer: The contract was awarded in 2010. It expires this year and is therefore currently under review.

Question: How is the management company paid? Is it a fixed fee, a percentage (if so what?) or another method?

Answer: The trust pays a nominal commission fee for the provision of services, however, the actual percentage cannot be disclosed as this would be commercially sensitive.

Question: How much does the RSCH make from the car park, gross and net? What are the overheads?

Answer: Given that the contract is currently under review we cannot disclose the requested information as it is commercially sensitive, however the last full profit and loss analysis of the provision of car parking facilities saw these essentially breaking even.

According to its website, CP Plus, the company that administers the hospital car park, “has grown since 1991, to the point where [they] now employ over 350 people and manage over 400 car parks”.

It also says: “With over 25 years’ experience, we are the leading parking provider in the healthcare industry, and this isn’t by chance. We have an excellent track record in delivering high quality parking services to hospitals across the UK.

“We provide a mix of both parking expertise with the sensitive approach that is needed at hospital parking locations. Parking enforcement is needed to help manage the car parks and prevent abuse but not at the distress of patients or relatives.”

The Royal Surrey serves a population of 320,000 people for emergency and general hospital services. St Luke’s Cancer Centre serves 1.3 million people for cancer services across Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire through the St Luke’s Cancer Alliance.

The hospital has an annual income of £326 million and employs around 3,500 people. Every year the Royal Surrey sees around 336,000 outpatients, admits 90,000 patients for treatment and 73,000 patients attend the A&E department.

And don’t forget to vote in our poll (to the right of this article): Should car park charges at the Royal Surrey County Hospital be raised?

Responses to Hospital Refuses To Say How Much It Collects In Car Park Fees

Sally Walker Reply

September 16, 2016 at 9:30 pm

I’m afraid that the trust is being seriously ripped off if the busiest car park in Guildford charging extortionate fees to the most in need can only just break even.

The last time I visited the hospital I had to hop on one foot to not just one machine which was “Out of Order” but to a second machine at the other end of the car park which was also “Out of Order”, as shown in your photos.

The trustees of the trust should thoroughly look into this scandal.

It seems to me that the trust would get a much better deal hiring a couple of full time employees to maintain and manage the car parks and keep the machines working.
John Perkins Reply

September 18, 2016 at 4:00 am

Surely public money should mean public information. Almost any transaction can be said to be “commercially sensitive”, but why should that entail total secrecy?

What happened to a health service free at the point of delivery?

Car park charges can be likened to prescription charges, except that those are fixed and can be easily waived. Hourly parking fees reward their recipients for delays. Many years ago I was charged £25 for parking at Kingston Hospital, waiting 5 hours for them to perform a 5 minute procedure.
Bibhas Neogi Reply

September 18, 2016 at 8:13 am

Just a thought.

Could Tesco run a shuttle from their free car park (for two hours) for a small charge? Is there anything in their operating license that prevents Tesco from offering this service?

Tickets for the shuttle could be bought with the vehicle registration number and then the user would be eligible for more than two hours of parking.

This could bring in more sales to Tesco.
JP Moyer Reply

September 23, 2016 at 10:37 pm

The Trust held a well publicised AGM on Thursday. Hardly anyone attended, other than governors and staff who had an earlier meeting.

Car parking was not raised by the handful of people attending.

The Trust board will decide whether to continue to pursue merger with Ashford and St Peter’s Trust in October.
Mary Bedforth Reply

October 14, 2016 at 10:03 pm

We are in the news again.

BBC Website today
Parking charges rise at ‘one in three hospitals’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37643200

“The most expensive trust in the country for a one-hour stay is the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, where patients are forced to pay £4 for any stay up to two hours.”

Deputy chief executive Alf Turner said the charge was necessary to cover running costs and fund the expansion of the car park that is taking place.

“I do not like having to charge people for car parking and in an ideal world we would not have to,” he added.

At the other end of the scale, car parking at Trafford General Hospital in Greater Manchester is free for up to three hours.

Some trusts allow patients and visitors to park for free for the first 30 minutes before charges start.

Enough said.
Martin Elliott Reply

October 15, 2016 at 2:50 pm

It is possible for those on a low income to get a refund of car parking fees and even car mileage.
However, of course, its not as simple as a linkage to DWP benefits for disabled or (the separate) local council housing benefit.

In fact it is yet another (third) separate application to NHS for a Health Costs Certificate. If granted, fees will be refunded by the RSCH Cash Office. Of course this cannot be done on the day of an appointment; the receipt is on the car’s dash.

Mileage is awarded at 20p per mile. Strange, as the HMRC allowance for a use of private car on company business 45p per mile. Even a 33% adjustment wouldn’t catch up.

The certificates do also help with other NHS costs such as prescriptions, eye tests, dental charges, but the application has to be renewed annually.