Parking charges stay at local hospitals

Jan 3 2009 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CAR parking charges will be staying at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Officials have no plans to cut fees at the infirmary and the Calderdale Royal Hospital despite the introduction of free hospital parking in Scotland.

Charges are currently £1.50 per visit.

The move, which was announced by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon in September, applies to 14 hospitals which charge fees.

Wales is set to abolish charges by the end of 2011.

A spokesman for Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust said: “Our car parking charges go some way to offset the high costs of providing car parking and security which protects patients, visitors, staff and their cars and improving parking provision at our hospitals”.

The charity Macmillan Cancer Support has called for English patients to also be exempt from fees.

Its survey of 1,000 people found that nine in 10 believed cancer patients should get free parking at hospital.