Hospital parking fees some of highest in UK Figures reveal extortionate cost for staff and patients

BIRMINGHAM Children’s Hospital has been revealed as one of the most expensive in the country at which to park – setting patients and visitors back an average of £2 an hour.

The cost of parking at the city centre site has doubled from an average of £1 an hour, according to figures released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

Meanwhile, hospitals run by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, charge an average of £1.58 an hour to park, while charges at Dudley’s Russells Hall went up 43 per cent from £1.07 an hour to £1.53.

The cost of parking at Birmingham’s Royal Orthopaedic Hospital rose from £1.10 a hour to £1.33.

There are also nine hospital sites in the Birmingham area that charge for disabled parking.

Birmingham Children’s Hospital was also revealed to be the most expensive place for staff to park in the conurbation, at an average of £2 per hour, up from 23p per hour in 2014/15, the biggest rise in price for staff parking in England.

Birmingham Women’s Hospital, in Edgbaston, has increased parking charges for staff from 30p per hour to 44p per hour.

However, Russells Hall Hospital has cut staff parking charges from an average of 13p per hour to 4p per hour, and the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital has cut its from 13p per hour to 10p per hour.

A Birmingham Children’s Hospital spokeswoman said: “As a city centre hospital, we own and manage a limited number of spaces for patients and visitors to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

“These 42 spaces, in Printing House Street, are offered to visitors on a first-come, first-served basis.

“However, if a child or young person has been an inpatient for more than 30 days, the parent can apply for one of our longterm free parent parking passes, which removes the need to pay for daily parking.

“We have a range of support options in place for our resident parents so that they pay significantly reduced rates. Because we recognise the demand for car parking, we have also negotiated heavily-discounted daily rates with an external provider, the NCP Royal Angus, for parents and visitors.

“This means access to more car parking spaces than ever before, a total of 2,480 per day, with a space for every individual coming to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, should they need it. Where it is possible and appropriate, we do encourage all visitors to use the wide range of public transport available to travel to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.”

Out of 579 acute hospital trust sites across England, 305 charge patients for parking, and 303 charge staff to park.