Hope for hospital parking?

As the Government launches new exemptions for hospital parking fees, we look at what the changes might mean for you and whether the plans go far enough

hether you’re visiting a W loved one or going in as a patient, at the end of a hospital visit paying for your parking is the last thing you want to do. With some hospitals charging up to £4 an hour, it can easily mount up, and we know this has been an issue for many readers for some years.

However, things are about to change. Government plans for hospital parking exemptions, first announced last year, will come into force next month.

While hospital parking is already free in Wales and in all but three Scottish hospitals, from this April these changes will see all 206 hospital trusts in England make parking free for blue badge holders, frequent outpatients with chronic conditions and parents of sick children staying in hospital overnight. The exemption also applies to NHS staff working nights.

In the meantime, the Government has pledged to look into increasing hospital car park space and using more technology – such as number plate recognition – to reduce the burden on hospitals making sure fees are charged correctly.

These changes come just two years after one in three hospital trusts increased their car-parking charges by 10 per cent, meaning many families can end up paying as much as £100 to visit a relative or friend, while charges also vary wildly between hospitals.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who unveiled the proposals last December, said the changes will help “those with the greatest need”, but campaigners say the changes don’t go far enough and may be impractical.

Lucy Watson, chair of The Patients Association, says: “Free hospital car parking for some will be welcomed by those groups who will benefit from it. However, we are concerned how this complex measure will work in practice. How will people know their entitlement? How will they access it and will patients have to navigate another bureaucratic process at an already distressing time?”

She adds: “Ultimately, we are disappointed that the Government has not provided free hospital parking for all patients as part of a full funding settlement for the NHS. We urge the Government to commit to funding the NHS fully, including money for abolishing car parking charges entirely.”

On the subject of funding, some people argue that without car park fees, even just from the exempted groups benefiting from this April’s changes, hospitals may struggle to cope as they rely on parking charges to reimburse their frontline care. While Whitehall officials insist the Treasury will provide additional funding to make up the shortfall from the changes, it’s not yet clear if taxpayers will be expected to also help foot the bill or whether hospitals will be required to make cuts elsewhere.

There’s also the issue that in Wales, where hospital parking has been free since 2018, there’ve been a number of problems with people taking advantage of the free car parks to do their shopping in town, leaving visitors and staff battling to find parking spaces or forced to park dangerously on busy nearby roads.

With this in mind, some say providing free parking is the wrong answer to the issue, insisting the Government should look instead at investing in bus services that connect the hospitals with their nearby communities.

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