GUESS WHO WILL BE HELPING PAY FOR A NEW £10M MULTI STOREY CAR PARK?… PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES!
More than 400 people have signed a petition calling for parking charges at Royal Surrey County Hospital in to be scrapped.
The petition says the charges are “a tax on serious illnesses” and “place an unfair and unnecessary burden on families, patients and NHS staff”.
Drivers are currently charged £4 for the first two hours and £9.50 for the day. They can also buy a weekly parking pass for £20.50, while blue badge holders receive a discount.
Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust increased the charges in 2016 after it decided to invest £10m in building a four-storey car park. Now, they are set to rise… again!
The decision was reached after it secured permission for 173 new temporary parking spaces on the set, and finalised plans for a £10m four-store car park boasting more than 600 spaces.
No-one is denying the spaces are desperately needed, but why do patients have to pay for them? When the new charging regime comes int force on January 4, it will be free to park for 20 mins, but parking for up to two hours goes up from £3 to £3.50. The hospital is complaining that patients are turning up unnecessarily early for out-patient appointments, in order to secure a parking place. No, surprise there!
Neighbours, are fed up with employees, and visitors jamming up the residential roads around, and it is hoped the hospital’s efforts to secure extra parking will address some of those concerns.
In the meantime it will be up to the public to pay more! Those wanting to park for six hours will pay £7, a 24 hour ticket will go up from £8 to £9, a weekly ticket by another £5 and an oncology day ticket from £3 to £3.50.
A spokesman said: ‘Car parking charges are an unfortunate necessity and the revenue manages and maintains our car parks, directing traffic, lighting CCTV etc. Any additional revenue goes towards patient care or is used towards projects such as the proposed muti storey car park.’