Hospital car park systems fail to get a clean bill of health for the modern era from the RAC
KATIE DICKINSON reports on calls being made for more up-to-date payment methods
PARKING facilities at some North East hospitals are set to be transformed as an investigation reveals “outdated” meters are causing unnecessary stress for patients.
A study by the RAC found patients and visitors have to pay for parking using coins at four out of 10 hospitals in England.
Some 47 trusts (38%) offered no option to pay by credit or debit card at any of their sites, meaning people have to carry change and risk overpaying or being made to pay penalties for staying beyond the agreed time.
And a third of NHS trusts do not allow people to pay for parking on exit, reportedly leaving people stressed at guessing how long they need to stay at the hospital.
The RAC collected data under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) from 164 out of 206 hospital trusts in England, of whom 125 charged for parking.
It is calling for hospitals in England to publish plans that set out when outdated parking meters will be upgraded in line with the wishes of drivers.
RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “Anyone arriving at hospital, be they a patient or visitor, have far more important things to worry about than paying for parking.
“It is for that very reason that things should be made as stress-free as possible – and that includes taking the pain out of paying to park.
“These figures show that in many cases it is still too difficult for people to pay to park when they make a visit to a hospital in England, with drivers still expected to carry pocketfuls of change in order to park legally.
“This is despite the advent first of credit and debit card payments, and now contactless and mobile payment technology.”
He said the new £1 coin would mean many machines need to be upgraded, which “provides a good opportunity for a wider range of payment options to be made available to drivers”. Mr Williams added: “In the absence of free parking at hospitals in England, we believe parking should be made as stress-free as possible for people.”
HOW OUR HOSPITALS FARED NEWCASTLE
THE Royal Victoria Infirmary and the Freeman Hospital both have a pay-on-exit system. There is currently no option to pay by card but the trust is upgrading its infrastructure to change that.
A spokesperson said the card payment facilities would be up and running “in the near future”.
GATESHEAD
THE trust runs the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Dunston Hill Day Hospital, QE Metro Riverside and Bensham Hospital.
All its payment machines allow people to pay by card, and 80% of the visitor car parks have a pay-onexit system.
Rob Stead, security and facilities support manager, said: “The remaining 20% of visitor parking at QE Gateshead is pay-and-display. These are located in those areas of the hospital where it is not possible to have a barrier system.
“We do, however, understand that pay-and-display is not always practical for some visits to the hospital and our security team does make concessions for visitors as appropriate.”
SOUTH TYNESIDE
PATIENTS and visitors at South Tyneside District Hospital can pay by card and pay on exit.