Hidden cost to hospital visits

VISITING loved ones in hospitals comes with more than just the cost of flowers or snacks. Both private and state-owned facilities charge for parking.

However, only two state hospitals charged for access-controlled parking, provincial health department spokesperson Darren Francis said.

“Patient-centred care is always top of the health department’s priority list and for patients and visitors, and secure parking is an important issue.”

At Groote Schuur Hospital, parking costs R6 for the first two hours and R6 for every hour after that. At Victoria Hospital in Wynberg, parking comes at a flat rate of R5 for a visit. Parking was free at all other state and day hospitals, he said.

At Groote Schuur, patients entitled to free treatment, pensioners and grant recipients are entitled to free parking, he said.

Victoria Hospital had to resort to paid-access control parking because of reports of theft when it was open and without security, he said.

Ensuring parking availability plus security are a key issue at private health facilities, a Mediclinic Southern Africa spokesperson said.

“Due to the areas Mediclinic operate in and to ensure patients and visitors have sufficient access to parking we’ve introduced measures to ensure its availability.

“Secured parking has a two-fold function within many of our hospitals where proximity to shopping centres has required access control to bays as well as ensuring the safety of vehicles belonging to visitors or patients.

“Examples of these arrangements include Mediclinic Cape Gate and Mediclinic Panorama which are situated close to shopping centres and as such experience pressure with parking availability.”

Most were used only for short periods by visitors or patients attending doctor appointments and their length of stay was not measured in the Mediclinic parking areas, the spokesperson said.