Here’s an article from ‘Get Surrey’ and an advertisement for
a public meeting today (Thursday 17th July 2014). I’ve got a couple
of things to say about this at the end of the article;
Paralympians
Tanni Grey-Thompson and David Weir back Ashford & St Peter's disabled
parking charges petition
Get Surrey
Jun 26, 2014 15:06
By Chris Caulfield
An open
meeting will be held in July to discuss the contentious issue of hospitals
charging blue badge holders to park
Hundreds of
people, including Paralympic athletes, are backing a petition calling on
Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to reverse its decision
to charge disability blue badge holders to park their cars.
In April,
the trust announced it was planning to charge disabled users of its hospitals
for parking, leading to anger at the "victimisation" of a group of people
likely to use healthcare services more than others.
One
opponent, Caroline Williams, decided she had heard enough and is petitioning the
NHS board to reverse its decision.
Her efforts
have gained support from two athletes who represented Great Britain during the
London 2012 Paralympic Games, Tanni Grey-Thompson and David Weir.
Mrs
Williams, 50, of Molesey Road in Hersham, said: “I’m not disabled but my mother
is and I have got several good friends who are blue badge holders.
“It’s
unfair to make them pay for car parking.
“Not all of
them are entitled to means-tested benefits to claim back the charges.
“My mother
was effectively nursing my father at the hospital. If she hadn’t had her blue
badge pass, she would have been spending £40 a day.
"It’s
putting more stress on people who have already got enough.
“The
petition has already been signed by British Paralympians Tanni Grey-Thompson
and David Weir, and it’s been constantly retweeted.
“I’m not
political or anything, I just wanted to do something to stop them going after
an easy target.”
Mrs
Williams added: “I went to my mum’s and she was up in arms about it. I came home
and started up the petition, and by the next morning people had started signing
it.”
The
petition to outgoing chief executive Andrew Liles, deputy chief executive Valerie
Bartlett and trust chairman Aileen McLeish calls on them "to stop the introduction
of car parking charges for the disabled".
The trust
is planning to hold an open meeting to discuss the issue in more detail, at
3pm on Thursday July 17 at the Hythe Centre in Egham.
Here’s my views on this issue;
In the last financial year, the trust raked in £1,401,867 in
Car parking fees from able-bodied people but as these were collected on its
behalf by a private company their take after expenses and profits would be a
lot less.
The people who attend hospital are likely to be old and/or
infirm and in many cases don’t get the state benefits which would entitle them
to a refund (if they are told about it).
For patients and their visitors these charges are a huge
burden – one that the highly paid managers don’t share.
People shorten visits or reduce visits because of the cost of
parking.
The amount of extra revenue they hope to steal from blue
badge holders will be relatively trivial in terms of revenue but a real
struggle for those who have to pay.
Of course there is a need for this money;
In May, managers and medics travelled to New York, Miami and
Pennsylvania for a week-long fact-finding mission as part of a larger group
from Surrey trusts.
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals Foundation Trust alone spent
£128,000 sending their 12-strong contingent.
That works out at £10,666 per person per week. There aren’t
too many patients of the hospital get to spend that kind of money on a holiday.
And that kind of money pays for a lot of blue badge holders
parking at the hospitals.
The Hospital trust sees this as an easy way to make money –
we need to make it clear that’s not going to happen.
Neil Harris
(a don’t stop till you drop production)
Home; helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.comContact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
u
helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
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