Hospitals make more than £3m from parking
HOSPITALS in the region have made more than £3m from car parking in the past year.
Pennine Acute Trust, which includes Rochdale Infirmary, is one of the highest earners from parking and fines, according to a recent Freedom of Information request.
The total amount made from 2016/17 was just over £3m - which has risen by £528,000 since 2013/4.
Of the Trusts which responded, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust made £1.9m and Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust made £1.2m.
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust made slightly more than Pennine with £3.2m.
Health chiefs at Pennine Acute Trust have defended the cash made and assured the money is ‘reinvested’ into facilities across the hospitals.
However, earlier this year the Trust was slammed by a former nurse who racked up around £1,200 in fines and refused to pay.
Car parks designated for staff, the former nurses claims were full forcing her and others to park in visitor or patient car parks.
But were fined for parking there.
In September the former nurse, who wished to remain anonymous said: “It’s a joke. I believe that staff should not have to pay for parking anyway, and then get fined for going to work.”
A mum was also left angered when she claimed she was fined at Royal Oldham Hospital while visiting her new born son.
She claimed she was allowed to park for free due to her son being in intensive care - but was still handed a £30 ticket.
Barry Waterhouse, Travel and Access Manager at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The amount of income the Trust receives each year from car parking charges appears high as we control nearly 5,000 parking spaces across five locations.
“All of the revenue we get from car parking charges, after costs have been covered, is reinvested back into our facilities across our four main hospital sites.”
“Our parking for patients and visitors who are blue badge holders is free, it is also free to park for 30 minutes in designated orange drop off/ pick up areas, and there are further parking concessions for patients and visitors, the full details of which are available on our website.”
“In August 2015 we opened a new 562 space staff parking area at The Royal Oldham Hospital at Westwood Park. This represented a significant investment of £2.6m and clearly demonstrates our commitment to reinvest the charges from parking for the benefit of all users.
Most recently, we have opened new staff parking areas at Rochdale Infirmary and a new parking area at North Manchester General Hospital, which has sections for patient and visitor, plus staff use.”