Hospitals reinvest £2.4m from parking charges and fines into improving services
Hospitals in West Sussex generated £2.4 million through parking charges and penalty fines last year – which was reinvested into the trust to improve patient services.
Figures from NHS Digital show that £1.8 million was paid by patients and visitors to hospitals run by Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, Worthing Hospital and Southlands Hospital in Shoreham – in the year to March, 2020. Meanwhile, £614,421 was paid by staff charged to park at the sites.
The Government announced last year that it would cover the costs of providing free car parking to NHS staff working in hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic – however, it said the scheme would end in all but ‘certain circumstances’ as the pandemic eased over the
summer.
But a spokesman for Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the scheme had been extended at its hospitals.
“We have extended free
parking for our staff as well as introduced new park and ride facilities and a free minibus shuttle service for staff to use between our three hospitals,” the spokesman said.
“Our public car parking
costs are kept in line with other nearby parking charges in order to prevent our limited hospital car parking from being used by visitors to the town centres.
“We provide concessions for patients who are in hospital for a long period and for specific groups, such as patients undergoing regular dialysis, carers and blue badge holders – their parking is free of charge.
“The income generated from our paid-for car parks is reinvested into the trust to improve patient services.”
Last year, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust generated around £1.5 million through parking charges and penalty fines, while East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust raised around £1.6 million.
Across England, £289 million was generated by NHS trusts from parking charges – nearly a third of which came from staff parking, generating £90 million over the year.
The figures represent the gross income earned by the NHS and do not take into account its own costs for providing car parking.
NHS Providers, which represents trust leaders, said some trusts had already reinstated charges for workers to ensure there were enough spaces for staff and patients as people avoid public transport during the pandemic.
Rachel Harrison, national officer at the trade union GMB, called on the government to extend free parking for staff across all hospitals.
“Ministers must now support our healthcare heroes by enforcing free hospital staff parking and scrapping plans to reintroduce charges once the pandemic ends,” she said.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “In March, the Government committed to making hospital car parking free for NHS staff for the duration of the pandemic and is providing additional money to NHS trusts to cover the cost of implementing this.
“Any surplus income generated from hospital car parks not used to fund the provision of car parking, such as security and maintenance, must be reinvested into frontline care.”