NHS Confederation Responds To Macmillan Report On Hospital Car Parking
The NHS Confederation responds to a Macmillan report which calls for free hospital car parking for all cancer patients.
Joe Farrington-Douglas, senior policy manager at the NHS Confederation said: "Ensuring hospitals and other NHS sites are accessible for patients, visitors and employees is an important part of the day to day running of the health service. That is why hospitals provide car parks, work with local councils to ensure regular bus services and design transport plans to meet the needs of the people they serve.
"In our own report Fair for all, not free for all we acknowledged that hospitals would often need to charge for the limited spaces they had in order both to manage demand for parking and also pay for the cost of its provision.
"We are also currently working with the British Parking Association on a charter for hospital car parking, which will emphasise the need for concessionary schemes, clear communication, reasonable enforcement and simple complaints procedures.
"We have made it clear that the best transport schemes would both provide concessions for people who need regular treatment, including some cancer patients and would publicise clearly how they ran their car parks and what kinds of exemptions were in place.
"It is important that funds provided for treatment of patients are not used to subsidise car parking. Fair parking charges - properly explained and enforced in an even handed manner, are an important way of ensuring that does not happen.
"In our own report Fair for all, not free for all we acknowledged that hospitals would often need to charge for the limited spaces they had in order both to manage demand for parking and also pay for the cost of its provision.
"We are also currently working with the British Parking Association on a charter for hospital car parking, which will emphasise the need for concessionary schemes, clear communication, reasonable enforcement and simple complaints procedures.
"We have made it clear that the best transport schemes would both provide concessions for people who need regular treatment, including some cancer patients and would publicise clearly how they ran their car parks and what kinds of exemptions were in place.
"It is important that funds provided for treatment of patients are not used to subsidise car parking. Fair parking charges - properly explained and enforced in an even handed manner, are an important way of ensuring that does not happen.
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