Harris orders review of €13m hospital parking ‘tax on sick’

HEALTH Minister Simon Harris has now ordered a review of the much-criticised parking charges the sick and their loved ones have to pay visiting our hospitals. The move comes amid growing concern over the €13million a year ‘tax on the sick’ they pay to HSE hospitals.

And that figure does not include other hospitals, such as St Vincent’s in Dublin, where the charge can be up to €14 a day. St James’s has the highest charges among HSE hospitals, where parking for the day can cost up to €15, which added up to €2.4million in 2016.

Cork University Hospital took €3.1million that year, according to a ministerial reply to Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane, while University Hospital Waterford generated €1.5million, with a maximum levy of €8 a day. An Irish Cancer Society petition, demanding cancer patients and their families be exempt from the charges, has been signed by more than 3,300 people.

Minister Harris said yesterday: ‘I have heard from many patients, as well as groups such as the Irish Cancer Society. I know some hospitals... have measures in place to alleviate this pressure. However, I want to make sure that we have national guidelines.’

He said he has asked the HSE to hold a review so this can be done. And he said the executive should consult the cancer society and other advocacy groups.

The HSE said it continually reviews all its charges, to ensure they are appropriate but it does not have a unified policy for all its hospitals.

Last year, several hospitals did not give a response to a question by Dr Michael Harty TD, citing commercial sensitivity.

However, his question did establish that visitors to Crumlin children’s hospital paid over €460,000 in carpark charges in 2016.

Mr Harty, an independent deputy for Clare, told Midwest Radio that the parking charges were ‘a tax on sick people and their relatives’.

Scotland and Wales largely have free parking in their hospitals.