Visitors sick of hospital rates

Costly Waitemata¯ DHB parking means patients missing appointments or callers

Hospitals face pressure to slash parking charges as patients miss out on visitors and appointments. Manukau SuperClinic visitors pay nothing for parking but those at Waita¯kere and North Shore Hospitals are stung up to $20 a trip.

Grey Power and others say the social good of hospital visits is in peril, with its members struggling with rising living costs including the regional fuel tax.

One of Auckland’s three District Health Boards will consider the issue at a board meeting this week.

Professor Judy McGregor, new chairwoman of Waitemata¯ DHB which covers Waita¯kere and North Shore Hospitals, has expressed concern, and the audit and finance committee has been asked to report with a recommendation on pricing.

Some charges are more than double those in Wellington, and higher than other Auckland DHBs.

Parking for 1-2 hours costs $8.20 at North Shore and Waita¯kere. In Wellington, drivers are charged $6 for the same time or $4 at weekends.

Maureen Wood, chairwoman of advocacy group Waita¯kere Health Link, acknowledged the financial pressure on DHBs.

“They don’t have the funding. If you are told you have to have more carparks — which we do — somebody has to pay for it. The thing is, it’s the patients that are paying for it,” she said.

“If you are visiting every day, it mounts up. For a lot of people it’s not a big deal, but my co-ordinator has had people saying, ‘we’re not happy with this’.” 1-2 hours $8.20 $6 $8.20 Free $3 $3 Free $6 ($4 wkds) 4+ hours $20.40 $10–$18 $20.40 Free $7.50 $7–$8 Free $9–$10

The group had even been told by patients the cost of parking was one reason for missing appointments.

Mate Marinovich, president of Waita¯kere Grey Power, wrote to the DHB earlier this year citing examples where people had arrived on time but because a specialist was running late, they had been charged $8.20 for two hours. Over-65s should be exempt from charges because they provide an important social good in visiting friends in hospital, he contended.

Current charges meant that was difficult for some, particularly with the new regional fuel tax.

In a response to Grey Power, the DHB, which operates North Shore Hospital and Waita¯kere hospitals, said it was reluctant to use precious health funding on parking facilities.

“It is therefore necessary to ask the public to pay for on-site parking. We strive to do this in a fair and balanced way that minimises financial impacts.

“We have the longest grace period of any hospital across the city (20 minutes) and in January we reduced the fee for the first hour of parking from $5 down to $4.”

Two-thirds of visitors pay $4 or less, the DHB stated, and public transport use was encouraged where possible, which is free for Gold Card holders.