Car parking charges at Congleton War Memorial hospital
The petition of residents of the UK,
Declares that the introduction of car parking charges at Congleton War Memorial Hospital by East Cheshire Hospital Trust should be reversed; further that it is a misuse of the Trust's power; further that the enforcement of the charges has been handed to a private company, who has the sole aim of profiting from people who need to use the hospital’s facilities; further that charges have resulted in severe distress to unwary patients and their visitors; further that the shock of receiving penalty notices of £70 is potentially harmful to the health of the people receiving them and whose health is entrusted to East Cheshire Hospital Trust; further than Congleton War Memorial Hospital was built from the subscriptions of the people of Congleton, as a memorial to the people who had fought and died to preserve freedom, and was meant for the benefit of those people and others; and further that local petitions on this matter were signed by 583 individuals.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to put pressure of East Cheshire Hospital Trust to remove car parking charges at Congleton War Memorial Hospital.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Fiona Bruce, Official Report, 8 December 2015; Vol. 603, c. 964.]
[P001596]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ben Gummer):
East Cheshire NHS Trust advises that its plans for camera-based parking management systems at Congleton War Memorial are currently paused. The Trust has guaranteed to make the first four hours of visitor parking free at Congleton War Memorial hospital, should it decide to install such a system. Therefore, it is unlikely that many patients would have to pay parking charges. The aim of such a system would be to protect the availability of spaces for genuine patients and visitors—as has been done with a similar system at Macclesfield Hospital.
The provision of car parking spaces and the charges that are made to use them are matters for individual NHS trusts, taking account of their local circumstances. NHS Trusts have the power to charge for car parking as provided by paragraph 20 of Schedule 4 to the NHS Act 2006.
Income generated from parking charges is used to pay the costs of providing the parking e.g. maintenance, security and lighting, and to avoid funds being taken from budgets for healthcare services. If any excess income is generated, income generation rules require that it is used to fund clinical services.
The Department of Health published the NHS Patient, Visitor and Staff Car Parking Principles in August 2014. They recognise that NHS organisations must have autonomy to make decisions that best suit their local requirements and are therefore not mandatory. However, they offer clear direction and leadership. They are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles.
The principles state that ‘NHS organisations should work with their patients and staff, local authorities and public transport providers to make sure that users can get to the site (and park if necessary) as safely, conveniently and economically as possible’. They help the public hold the NHS to account for any unfair charges or practices. They identify groups that should be considered for free or concessionary parking and require that details of charges, concessions and additional charges should be well publicised. This includes publicising charges at car park entrances, wherever payment is made and inside the hospital. They should also be included on the hospital website and on patient letters and forms, where appropriate.
Some NHS organisations outsource their car parking to commercial companies. This can be a sensible decision as it takes the burden and risk from the NHS. Commercial companies can use their expertise to provide better facilities, leaving the NHS organisation to focus on patient care. However the NHS is responsible for all the actions of its private contractors who run services for them and car parking is no exception. The DH principles are clear on this and help patients hold their local Trusts to account. They also state that ‘contracts should not be let on any basis that incentivises additional charges, e.g. ‘income from parking charge notices only’.
It has been estimated that the cost of providing free car parking across the NHS in England could be nearly a quarter of a billion pounds every year.