The Isle of Wight NHS Trust made just shy of £420,000 from parking charges at St Mary’s Hospital in the 2017-2018 financial year, almost £100,000 of which was from charging its own staff to park.
Forcing patients, visitors and staff to pay to park at hospitals is an argued point across the country, with recent changes to the parking arrangements at St Mary’s bringing the discussion back to the forefront locally.
Now, figures released by the NHS have revealed that patients and visitors forked out £320,530 to park during the 2017-2018 tax year, with a further £99,460 generated for the Trust by staff paying to park.
The current car parking charges at St Mary’s Hospital are:
- Up to 2 hours – £1.40
- Up to 4 hours – £2.60
- Up to 6 hours – £3.90
- Over 6 hours – £6.50
Regular and frequent visitors of a patient who has been in hospital for the past 7 days and remains an inpatient is eligible to park at the concessionary rate of £1.50 per day.
Visitors of patients who have been in hospital for 14 days or more and remains an inpatient and are visiting more than 4 times per week are eligible for free parking for up to 4 weeks. Outpatients who have appointments more than twice a week can also have this concession during their course of treatment.
Disabled Drivers (Blue Badge Holders) are eligible for free parking for the first 3 hours.
In Wales, parking at NHS establishments is free of charge and the same can be said for most of Scotland.
