Scotland ends NHS car park fees

[4me2]

Scotland ends NHS car park fees


Macmillan Cancer Support said hospital parking fees were "a tax on illness"


Patients at most hospitals in Scotland will no longer have to pay for parking, with fees being abolished on Wednesday.
The move, announced in September, applies to 14 NHS hospitals which previously charged for parking.
Wales is set to abolish charges by the end of 2011 but the Department of Health has said there are no plans for fees to be scrapped in England.
A spokeswoman said it was not a "sensible use" of NHS resources to subsidise free car parking.
The department says charges are decided locally and should ensure exemptions or concessions for people who needed them most.
'Too much'
A cap of £3 per day had been in place at Scottish NHS hospitals since January.
However, charges will remain at Dundee's Ninewells PFI hospital, where the car park is run by a private firm
When she announced the scrapping of fees in September, Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the move would help reaffirm the NHS's founding principle of healthcare free at the point of delivery.
The charity Macmillan Cancer Support has called for English patients to also be exempt from parking charges. Put bluntly, hospital parking charges are a tax on illness


Ciaran Devine, Macmillan Cancer Support



NHS car park fees - necessary evil?


It said it had carried out a survey of 1,000 people which found that nine in 10 believed cancer patients should get free hospital parking.
A study for the charity revealed cancer patients visited hospital an average of 53 times for treatment, paying an average total of £325 to park their cars.
The charity's chief executive Ciaran Devine said: "A typical cancer patient sees their income halved after a cancer diagnosis.
"To be then expected to find more money to pay for parking your car whilst you go for chemotherapy is too much.
"The Scottish government has recognised this and made parking free, we now want the same for patients in England.
"Put bluntly, hospital parking charges are a tax on illness."
'Not disadvantaged'
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "We do not think it is a sensible use of limited resources to subsidise car parking at hospitals for everyone.
"Our priority is the safety and speed of healthcare - one of the reasons in England waiting times are shorter.
"In England, hospital car parking charges are decided locally by individual trusts to cover the cost of running and maintaining a car park.
"All trusts should have exemption and concessionary schemes in place to ensure that patients and carers who visit hospital regularly are not disadvantaged." The Scottish Government has asked NHS Tayside to look into the possibility of an early termination of the contract with car park operator Vinci Park Ltd which has prevented the abolition of charges at Ninewells Hospital. The authority said Vinci Park Ltd had said it had "no interest" in negotiating a contract buy out.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7805565.stm

[DJ OD]

And the reason this doesn't apply to the whole UK is...?


DJ OD

[GTI]

Patients get better, more expensive treatments and students get a genuinly free education. England is pretty shit if you think about it?

[4me2]

And the reason this doesn't apply to the whole UK is...?


DJ OD

Corrupt wankers sold all our hospital car parks to private firms.

[pumpman]

when all the money is divvied up at the start of the year Westminster gives england scotland and wales its money, it up to the respective authorities how they spend it.

The SNP when they got in made a lot of promises, some they havent kept but the few they have kept are , free Uni fees , free school lunches for primary school kids and now the car park charges in hospitals, and some treatments you get up here that you dont down there.

Labour ministers whined like bitches when the SNP announced their plans, and where at great pains to point out what they had not done.

But credit where credit is due, they have made more of a difference than any Tory or Labour government has done, and you should be asking your local minister why they don't do the same, instead of spending it on other things, because that is all thats in it, its not like one place gets more money than the others.

[stevo25]

hope it happens and then migrates to england, i work in a hospital and have to pay for parking too! £30/month deducted @ source £5/month ok and free for patients but ideally free for all

[bomberman]

I'm moving North of the boarder....do you think they will have me?

B

[4me2]

I'm moving North of the boarder....do you think they will have me?

B

Are you ginger and what do you look like in a dress ?

If you are any good at football you have no chance mate.

[bomberman]

Are you ginger and what do you look like in a dress ?

If you are any good at football you have no chance mate.

I could be with a bottle of hair dye and I only wear a dress on a Friday night (but I really look good) i'm really bad at football...I don't understand the point of 22 men kicking an inflated pigs liver into a fishing net...what's the point???

[Argyll]

Are you ginger and what do you look like in a dress ?

If you are any good at football you have no chance mate.

Cunt

[Argyll]

when all the money is divvied up at the start of the year Westminster gives england scotland and wales its money, it up to the respective authorities how they spend it.

The SNP when they got in made a lot of promises, some they havent kept but the few they have kept are , free Uni fees , free school lunches for primary school kids and now the car park charges in hospitals, and some treatments you get up here that you dont down there.

Labour ministers whined like bitches when the SNP announced their plans, and where at great pains to point out what they had not done.

But credit where credit is due, they have made more of a difference than any Tory or Labour government has done, and you should be asking your local minister why they don't do the same, instead of spending it on other things, because that is all thats in it, its not like one place gets more money than the others.

They also promised to scrap fees on the toll bridges which they did i.e Forth and Skye and which I was pleased to see. For the first time there's goverment that does what it says and doesn't introduce something else to counteract it.

[4me2]

They also promised to scrap fees on the toll bridges which they did i.e Forth and Skye and which I was pleased to see. For the first time there's goverment that does what it says and doesn't introduce something else to counteract it.

Whereas our guys sold the Dartford tunnel to the French.

Who have just recently put the prices up.

[bomberman]

Whereas our guys sold the Dartford tunnel to the French.

Who have just recently put the prices up.

Yet another stealth tax imposed by Mr Brown.....the bridge was paid for in 2003 and the tolls were going to be axed, however car users are always seen as a cash cow........Then they they tried to say it's an Environmental Tax...Doohhh hundreds of cars sat waiting to reach the tolls to add to the government coffers...That makes sense....

That's it's I'm off North...can't wait to try a real Arbroath Smokie


B

[Mickey]

Yet another stealth tax imposed by Mr Brown.....the bridge was paid for in 2003 and the tolls were going to be axed, however car users are always seen as a cash cow........Then they they tried to say it's an Environmental Tax...Doohhh hundreds of cars sat waiting to reach the tolls to add to the government coffers...That makes sense....

That's it's I'm off North...can't wait to try a real Arbroath Smokie


B

I hear the Glasgow kiss is summat well worth the trip

[Argyll]

Whereas our guys sold the Dartford tunnel to the French.

Who have just recently put the prices up.

Yeah always sticks in my throat every time I drive through that tunnel...or over the bridge, it's a fucking disgrace imo

[Undertaker]

Patients now have the option to be treated anywhere, so it is in these trusts interest to not charge for car parking. Foundation trust have alot of freedom to act so I can see the abolishment of car parking charges if that is an important factor for patients

[4me2]

Patients now have the option to be treated anywhere, so it is in these trusts interest to not charge for car parking. Foundation trust have alot of freedom to act so I can see the abolishment of car parking charges if that is an important factor for patients

Don't say that mate,think of the implications !

All the women would go to Scotland to give birth and in 50 years time the population of Britain would be 80% Jocks.

[Northernbloke]

How long will it take folks who work anywhere near hospitals to start using them for parking while they go to work all day? It might just make it harder for patients to get a spot to park in

[Mickey]

How long will it take folks who work anywhere near hospitals to start using them for parking while they go to work all day? It might just make it harder for patients to get a spot to park in

That happened at St James`s years ago before the tarriffs came in, all the fecking motorists park all over the grounds of the hospital and surrounding area then walk into Leeds to work. Its a propper nightmare looking for a "free" spot in that area. If they make it free then i guess ill get the bus if i needed to go there

[dpSparhawk]

And the reason this doesn't apply to the whole UK is...?


DJ OD

Because unfortunately, the UK is far from united and Britain certainly isn't great.