Hospitals see little wiggle room to waive workers parking fees
Some progress has been made in the past, with hospitals now providing more access to long-term options
A movement to cut parking costs for hospital staff is gaining traction, but hospitals use the money to cover parking operating costs and see little wiggle room for cheaper options.
A new petition launched in Ontario in April is calling for an end to parking fees for all hospital staff to “ensure our health care workers can focus on saving lives, not worrying about parking fees.”
It’s the resurgence of an issue that has long had support from the Ontario Nurse’s Association and other large hospital unions.
Some progress has been made in the past, with hospitals now providing more access to long-term options, instead of costly daily rates.
But even with the changes, concerns remain about the financial impact on lower-wage staff in the hospital, and an overall morality question about charging staff members tasked with providing care for people in their most vulnerable states.
Waterloo Region’s three hospitals — Grand River Hospital, St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital — all have similar approaches to staff parking, with options now available for hourly rates and monthly rates.
As the region looks to merge Grand River and St. Mary’s General, and embark on building a new hospital, the same parking polices are expected to apply.
“In setting our team parking fees, we scale them at an expense recapture rate, meaning we do not make any profits from our team parking,” said Grand River spokesperson Victoria Ott in a joint statement with Cambridge Memorial and St. Mary’s General.
“Instead, these fees offset maintenance, snow removal, upkeep, and at some hospitals, shuttle buses. Team parking at all hospital locations range from $40-90 per month, which is below comparable public and municipal parking in our Region, as well as below rates at comparable urban centres.”
There is a precedent for waiving the fees, with city councils in Delta, Mission and Campbell River — all in British Columbia — passing bylaws banning hospitals charging for parking.
However, Ott said a directive from the province would be required to make all hospitals uniformly approach team parking in the same way across Ontario.”
This would take a move similar to one in Prince Edward Island, where all hospitals have done away with parking fees. It’s a similar situation in the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
In Ontario, although the ministry gives funds and regulates public hospitals, it does not play a direct role in the governance or management of hospitals. Public hospitals are independent corporations that are governed by their boards of directors, said health ministry spokesperson Bill Campbell.
Hospital administrators are responsible for the day-to-day management of their hospitals, including the delivery of services and implementation of programs, protocols, and procedures adopted by the hospital board, within the parameters of provincial legislation.
“Hospitals have resources to raise funds for their programs, medical equipment, expansion and renovation, or to use to enhance the quality of health care in their greater communities,” he said. “These include activities like fundraising through their foundations, revenues from parking, or the allocation of space to nonhospital services, like food vendors or private clinics.”
In 2016, the provincial government did enforce new rules on visitor parking, ensuring cheaper options were available for long-term stays up to 30 days, with a 50 per cent reduction on the daily rate.
As for staff parking, the ministry said it is not looking at implementing new legislation, and is leaving all decisions on parking up to individual hospitals.