Hereford Hospital Car Park

[greenknight]

Well here is one topic that gets me every time.

According to the latest media reports our relatively small hospital is now only second to Guildford for the most expensive 'first hour' in England.

[lpusseycat]

And Surrey is one of the most expensive places to live in the country and a salary is on average 25% more than Hereford

[Clarkester]

And you can thank the highly paid (pay the best to get the best) executives at Wye Valley NHS Trust for their brilliant negotiating when the PFI contract was first set up.

Not one penny of parking revenue goes back into the hospital or the NHS Trust.

Mercia Healthcare and Car Parking Plus, on the other hand, are making a not-so-small fortune.

Which is, frankly, disgusting.

Any guesses how much they have taken from staff, visitors and patients?  It won't be a trifling amount, that I would bet on.

[George Armstrong]

Well, you've got to hand it to them, Clarkester. At least they didn't turn it into the biggest free car park for the city shoppers in history. I mean: why pay for Merton Meadow or Station Approach when you could park at the Hospital for free? Solution: 1. Ticket issued at entry. 2. Validated at ward at beginning of visit. 3. Validated at ward upon end of visit. 4. Free to get out if you remove your car within 20 mins, for example. That'd sort out the genuine from the free-loaders surely? Thoughts please...

[greenknight]

It's true it could never be free anymore. On my visits to hospitals in Wales where it is free on many sites there is a bit of a free for all park anywhere culture.

Even I now park at Morrison's and walk across but this is no good for those with mobility issues.

George's idea is an interesting one but unfortunately ward staff don't have the time to administer this kind of set up.

Any profits from hospital car park charges should be invested back into clinical services and demonstrated as such.

[DILLIGAF]

Tesco have the right idea. No people involved. Park for upto 2hrs, spend £2+ in store, scan reciept on exit! Survey showed average time in store is 40mins so plenty of time to walk the through the city three times!!

Although I can't see how this can be adapted to suit at the hospital without human intervention of some kind. The hospital is also a hotspot for bike theft. Yet they refuse to install CCTV. This is another way of controlling parking.

Rumours of an increase in charges too, hoping to alleviate congestion I guess.

I really can't see anyway of controlling/discounting genuine patient/visitors parking without breach of confidentiality. Drop the prices and everyone will be parking there and no room for visitors!!

 

I must say that Tesco car park was rather vacant yesterday afternoon since introducing their new parking scheme.

[H.Wilson]

They have been taking the micky with these exterminate car park charges for far to long.