£400 parking tax on my life-saving hospital dialysis
Patients’ fury at charges switch
END THE HOSPITAL PARKING RIP-OFF
DESPERATELY ill patients must fork out hundreds of pounds to attend hospital after exemption parking permits were scrapped.
Dialysis patient Jim Aherne has to find more than
£400 a year to attend for life-saving treatment at least three times a week at Royal Preston Hospital, Lancs.
The car park has been taken over by private firm Parking Eye and has started charging cancer sufferers and families of seriously ill children.
It comes after the Mirror launched a campaign to end NHS hospital parking charges, which have been dubbed a “tax on sickness”.
Pensioner Jim, 68, has organ failure after developing kidney disease. The former care home worker said of the firm’s move: “It’s diabolical.”
He added: “We’ve had a permit for 10 years. There was no warning – last week they dropped a form on my lap while I was having treatment.”
Previously, visitors or carers of long-stay patients in Royal Preston for more than 14 days could park for free, as could parents of seriously ill children. Cancer patients and those suffering with organ failure also got an exemption permit. These permits have been scrapped and a “concessions” rate of £2.50 per visit rolled out.
Even this is strictly only available to certain groups who parked for free, including visitors of the “gravely ill”.
Patients who do not qualify for the concessions are made to pay the standard rates.
This is £2.50 for an hour and up to £10 for more than eight hours.
Karen Partington, chief executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Although there will be no exemptions, this new concessions policy means a much more equitable approach for people regularly attending or visiting for long periods.
“It means a number of people who previously had to pay full parking charges will now be eligible to pay the minimum daily charge of £2.50.
“We believe the cost of providing secure car parks should not be taken from budgets intended for care.”
A Parking Eye spokesman said: “We’ve made significant investment into NHS Lancashire sites... to help all people have hassle-free parking.”
DRINK Orange juice and water on sale A HOSPITAL has taken drastic action to tackle obesity by getting its staff to lead by example.
Vending machine “full-fat” drinks and sugary snacks are gone, and healthy meals are delivered to staff stuck on wards and in clinics.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock will be told of Tameside General Hospital radical plan, which may be rolled out across the NHS.
The East Manchester hospital, which has regular farmers’ markets to boost health, serves 250,000 people who are among the poorest, unhealthiest and most obese in the UK.
Here, more than 20% of school children in year six are classed as obese
The hospital’s 4,000-strong staff work long shifts with little chance to eat properly and struggle to stay healthy. They have admitted they set a bad example to the public.
Hospital chief executive and ex-nurse Karen James said: “Staff say they are telling patients to eat healthier and take exercise but they were not really heeding their own advice and they felt dreadful about that.”
She added: “These are dedicated professionals who believe they should be role models but the food environment at the hospital was working against them.”
Obesity kills 30,000 annually, cuts sufferers’ lives by nine years and costs the NHS more than £6.1billion a year. A Royal College of Nursing report found 25% of nurses were obese.
The hospital paid for 100 staff to go on a weight-loss programme and is trying to change shifts so they can eat Percentage of Year 6 pupils who are obese in the Tameside area GREAT SERVICE Healthier option in hospital canteen healthily rather than having crisps, chocolate and treats from grateful patients and their relatives. The project, featuring on tonight’s Channel 4 series How to Lose Weight Well, has seen staff transformed through weight-loss and experts believe their success will help the local population follow advice.
Orthopaedic practitioner Kevin Morris, 50, whose weight peaked at 19.5 stone, lost more than two stone on the hospital weight-loss programme and by ditching his 11-packet-aday crisp habit.
He said: “My daughter Lucy wanted me to go on a diet so she could get her arms round me to give me a hug.”
And neo-natal nurse Janette Ogley, 56, who lost two stone, no longer needs her arthritis pills and is training to run a 10K race. Tam Fry, chief of the National Obesity Forum, believes the Tameside template should be replicated around the NHS. Tameside is also working with schools and GP surgeries to promote healthier lifestyles across
Slimmer Kevin in one of his old shirts Staff sit down to good grub KAREN JAMES CHIEF EXECUTIVE AT TAMESIDE GENERAL HOSPITAL the community. Local Labour MP Andrew Gwynne said the Department of Health should take note of the good example set by the hospital.
The Department said: “The Government is determined to promote the benefits of good nutrition and regular exercise to help patients live longer, healthier and happier lives.”
Staff felt dreadful not heeding their own advice to patients about being healthier
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