The Truth about Ashford and St. Peter's Car Parking Charges.

Ashford and St. Peter's NHS Foundation Trust don't like to give out information about the revenue they receive from Parking Charges - it isn't separately itemised in their accounts.

I don't normally quote Murdoch's 'Sun' newspaper as it's got a history of attacking people and their rights.

However, in 2015 they did a large scale survey of NHS Hospital Parking Charges and the results are worth reading.

Not least because at an outrageous  £1,438,490 Ashford and St. Peter's were raking in the fifth largest amount of money from parking in the whole country.

And now they want to charge the disabled as well!

                                 ----------//---------

The Sun
Taking the P
RIP-OFF BRITAIN: How hospitals milk us for cash
By BEN LAZARUS 

16th October 2015, 11:01 pm
Updated: 6th April 2016, 1:12 am  


NHS hospitals raked in almost £39MILLION in car parking fees over the past year, a Sun investigation can reveal.

Some pocketed almost £2million charging patients and visitors to park, with total parking revenue up £1million, new figures show.
That is despite Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s vow last year to crack down on rip-off NHS trusts.

The Sun obtained data from 100 hospitals in England through a Freedom of Information request, following our story yesterday highlighting the charges.

It revealed the scale of the controversial parking charges, which made those hospitals a total of £38,860,532 in 2014/15 — up from £37,707,587 in 2013/2014.

John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford pulled in £1,880,961, making it the highest-grossing of those we contacted.

The hospital, part of Oxford University Hospitals Trust, charges £7 for stays of more than four hours.

London’s Northwick Park came a close second, earning £1,847,851 in parking revenue.

It charges £2.50 for up to one hour and £28.50 for a seven-day pass.

The sky-high rates were criticised last night, with Caroline Davey, of baby charity Bliss, warning they were an extra stress for new mums whose babies needed treatment. She said: “They should not have the added worry of expensive car parking charges and whether they can even afford to visit their baby.
“We want to see hospitals make car parking free for all families with a baby in neonatal care.”

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Hospital parking is often scarce, so some charges can help ensure it isn’t abused.
“But many taxpayers will feel let down at the scale of these charges at a time when many of them are simply visiting sick relatives.”

Labour MP Frank Field described The Sun’s findings as “an extraordinarily vicious tax on sickness and death and dying”. He called on Mr Hunt to “seek powers to instruct trusts that they should not be charging”.

He added: “What is so disappointing is that Mr Hunt asked hospitals not to raise prices and they have just put two fingers up to him.

“He has given them a chance, they can’t be trusted.

“There is a limit to which any sort of mockery the State should be prepared to take.”

Conservative MP Stephen Metcalfe expressed shock at the million-pound leap in parking revenue and admitted the trend was “very worrying”.

He said: “It is not right. Budgets are tight but increasing the amount made from charges is not the answer.

“It is an incredible amount of money and often hits the hardest those on the lowest incomes.

“Hospitals need to rethink how they are charging people.”

 
Who’s raking it in?
 
What hospitals and trusts make per year in parking fees
 
1. John Radcliffe, Oxford £1,880,961
2. Northwick Park, London £1,847,851 
3. New Cross, Wolverhampton £1,546,380
4. Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham £1,490,035
5. St. Peter’s, Ashford, Surrey £1,438,490
6. Good Hope Hospital, West Mids £1,101,690
7. Royal United Hospital, Bath £1,063,885
8. Leighton Hospital, Crewe £1,018,071 
9. Barnsley Hospital £905,256
10. Queen’s, Burton-on-Trent, Staffs £876,000

‘Time to own up’

JEREMY HUNT was yesterday urged to come clean over rip-off hospital parking after The Sun revealed charges were getting worse.

The Health Secretary’s promise to force NHS trusts to cut fees should be “taken with a large pinch of salt”, Shadow Health Minister Justin Madders said.

Figures showed this week that 63 per cent of trusts which charge for parking – 112 in total – defied Government guidelines and upped charges.

The fees make the NHS around £200million a year.

Mr Madders added: “It’s clear he has no plans to scrap these charges and he should just admit it. Patients are paying for the Government’s financial mismanagement.”

The attack came as the Scottish Government said families had saved £25million there since parking charges at most hospitals ended in 2009.


A spokesman called them “an unnecessary financial burden at a difficult time”.
The Department of Health insisted trusts set the costs.
                                   ----------//---------

But they are at it again - the charges at Ashford and St. Peter's went up in 2016 and, if they get their way they will go up this year as well.

Worse, following a Freedom of information request in 2016 I can reveal that if you include what they charge their staff for parking as well, in 2016 they pulled in an outrageous £2,071,942.

And that doesn't include the parking fines which go directly into the pocket of the private contractor who runs the parking for them. 

FOI Request 4965 - Patient Parking Income

 

Last Updated: Friday, 30 September 2016 15:28

 

Case Number	4965
Request Date	01/09/2016
Completion Date	22/09/2016

1. Please state what the income was to the Trust from parking income in patient car parks in

(i) the (14/15) financial year:

£1,850,735 combined patient and staff parking

 

(ii) the (15/16) financial year:

£2,071,942 combined patient and staff parking

I'm certainly saying that this 'Trust' is making quite enough money from it's able bodied visitors to not start charging the disabled as well. But isn't it obvious that the charges are too high for everyone?

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The caring Tory M.P.'s.

Here's Philip Davies, a kind and caring Conservative M.P. posing with Carers UK and Macmillan Cancer Support to pledge that he will stand up for Carers while he's in Parliament.

Nice Photo opportunity Phil;




This is an article from today's Guardian newspaper;

Filibustering Philip Davies MP pledged his support to carers as part of the national Carers Week 2015 awareness campaign, in June. Photograph: Carers Week

Tory MP's filibuster blocks bill to give carers free hospital parking

Philip Davies speaks for 93 minutes to use up time allocated to debate Labour MP Julie Cooper’s private member’s bill

Frances Perraudin

The Guardian.

Friday 30 October 2015

A Conservative MP has blocked a proposed law to introduce free hospital parking for carers by speaking in the House of Commons for 93 minutes in order to use up the time allocated for the debate.

A private member’s bill brought forward by Julie Cooper, Labour MP for Burnley, set out a proposed exemption to hospital parking charges for carers. At the moment hospitals have discretionary powers to grant exemptions to parking charges.

Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley, deployed a tactic called filibustering – where MPs speak for so long that a vote is delayed or prevented – and spoke about his opposition to the bill for more than an hour and a half.

He was aided by the Conservative MPs Christopher Chope and David Nuttall, who spoke for another hour and 20 minutes between them.

Davies said the proposals would mean “higher car parking charges for everybody else who visits the hospital in order to protect that revenue stream for the hospitals”.

Nuttall, the MP for Bury North, said it was inevitable that one of the consequences of the bill would be to “divert part of the healthcare budget that could otherwise be used for frontline national health services, potentially life-saving services, to cover car parking maintenance and all the associated costs”.

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood condemned the tactics deployed by some on the government benches. “Owing to the assassins on the government benches more than two hours of time has, bizarrely, been taken up, and I do not think that I will be able to go into all the important issues that I wished to raise,” he said.

The bill will now go to the bottom of the pile of private members’ bills, but health minister Alistair Burt said the guidance principles sent to hospital trusts by the government detailing who should be granted concessions or exemptions would now explicitly mention carers.

Cooper, who introduced her hospital parking charges (exemption for carers) bill to the Commons for its second reading, said the charges placed an unfair financial burden on those caring for disabled, seriously ill or older friends and relatives.

She spoke about her experience of caring for her own mother when she was in hospital. “Each night when I left tired and distressed I queued up to pay for my parking,” said Cooper.

“At that time it was costing me £40 a week. On one of those days driving out of the car park, it occurred to me that I was lucky because I could afford to pay this charge and I went on to reflect on the matter and I thought what about those people who can’t afford to pay?”

                                             ----------//----------

I've been battling about parking fees for two years now - they just get higher and higher.

Hospitals do allow some groups free parking......but they don't advertise the fact.

Meanwhile most of those who aren't eligible are usually on low incomes.

I've documented how St. Peters and Wexham Park hospitals charge outrageous parking fees to patients and visitors and then spend all the money on collecting money, security and sometimes on private contractors.

The NHS is underfunded but inventing underhanded taxes on patients and visitors is just plain.......underhanded.

When did you ever hear of an NHS manager or board of governors ever campaigning for more money for their hospital?

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
 

Parking at Ashford and St. Peter's Hospital how bad is it?.

It would be good to read that Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals were fifth in the country for something but this isn't a good thing.

According to a Sun newspaper investigation the trust made the fifth largest amount of money from charging it's patients, visitors and staff for parking.

It's not as though it's in an expensive parking area.

I took this article from the Bath Chronicle as the Murdoch group of newspapers charge for access;


Bath Chronicle                 
Royal United Hospital in Bath collected more than £1 million in parking fees
last year

By Amanda Cameron  |  Posted: October 17, 2015
 
The Royal United Hospital in Bath raked in more than £1 million in parking fees
last year, it has been reported.

An investigation by The Sun found that the hospital was among eight NHS trusts
in the country that collected at least £1 million from patients and visitors who
parked in hospital grounds last year.

The newspaper obtained data on parking fees from 100 NHS hospitals in England
under the Freedom of Information Act.

Those hospitals made a total of £38.86 million in 2014/15, up from £37.71
million the year before.
 
This is despite Secretary of Health Jeremy Hunt promising last year to clamp
down on the parking fees charged by NHS trusts.

The Royal United Hospital collected £1,063,885 in parking revenue last year,
putting it seventh among eight hospitals that hauled in more than a million
pounds.

John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford came top of the list, raking in £1,880,961.
It was followed by Northwick Park Hospital in London, which collected
£1,847,851, and New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton which collected £1,546,380.

Next on the list were Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital with £1,490,035, St
Peter's Hospital in Ashford, Surrey, with £1,438,490 and Good Hope Hospital in
the West Midlands with £1,101,690.

Conservative MP Stephen Metcalfe has admitted that figures are "very worrying"
while Labour MP Frank Field called on Mr Hunt to "seek powers to instruct trusts
that they should not be charging" the public for parking at NHS hospitals.


So where did the money go?

I thought I'd take a closer look at the story because the Health Minister promised to stop Hospital's ripping off people who visit or work there and need to park.

It doesn't seem to have happened.

I checked out some other Freedom of Information requests and found this one, the car parking accounts for 2013;

ASHFORD AND ST. PETER'S HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

Travel plan Income and Expenditure Streams 2013/14

£

Income

 

Income from car parking                                                                          1,750,000

Pay

 

Pay costs from Security

- Travel plan / CCTV / Security offices                                                    (160,000)

- Staff Hopper Bus                                                                                     (210,000)

- 24hr Car park / security management                                                     (100,000)

Non-Pay Includes

- Car pack ticket, barrier maintenance & management contracts              (195,000)

- Road markings                                                                                         (10,000)

- General repairs, gritting                                                                           (10,000)

- Rent                                                                                                          (15,000)

- Grounds maintenance contracts                                                               (30,000)

- Patient ambulance (NEPT) contracts                                                       (95,000)

- Miscellaneous expenses                                                                           (7,500)

Site Improvements Funds

- Lighting, CCTV, security, traffic flow improvements                             (25,000)

- Fencing / Bollard improvements                                                               (20,000)

- Signage improvements                                                                              (10,000)

Other Indirect Costs

Cashiers:

- 10% of cashiers time                                                                                   (7,000)

- Bank charges for cash                                                                                 (3,000)

Maintenance staff recharge                                                                           (12,500)

Estates & Facilities Management recharge                                                    (15,000)

Business rates recharge (10%)                                                                      (115,000)

Estimate for electricity supplies to lighting, ticket machines & barriers       (35,000)

Overheads

Capital Charges

- Maple decked car park                                                                                  (95,000)

- Abbey Wing decked car park                                                                        (45,000)

- Other car parks                                                                                              (380,000)

- Land                                                                                                               (205,000)

Net Surplus /(Deficit) on Car Parks                                                                 (50,000)

%                                                                                                                      -3%

The first interesting point is that the Trust actually earned £1.75 million which would put it in third place in the  table of shame.

The second interesting point is that the hospital uses all the money on non health related matters - it's not as though our money pays for treatment.

Thirdly, last summer the Trust tried to introduce charges for the disabled who had previously parked for free. You may remember there was a storm of protest and in the end they backed down.

None of us could understand why they would risk such bad publicity for what would have been a small amount for the Trust but such a big item of expenditure for the disabled.

Only an accountant could recommend penalising those least able to pay; only an accountant would think it worthwhile to make that charge to remove a deficit of £50,000.

Of course, these accounts are full of nonsense accounting entries like notional interest and notional rent for the land the car parks are on.

The trust seems to be trying to run the car parks as though they were some kind of stand alone business when really they are a service for the patients and staff.

Or they should be.

In the real world these outrageous car park charges are just a tax on illness and infirmity.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Car Parking at St. Peter's Hospital, Chertsey; another own goal!

There is currently a petition to raise signatures to stop Runnymede Borough Council from taking back control of the staff car parks at St. Peter’s Hospital; whatever you do don’t sign it.

Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals have a history of hiking car parking charges to unreasonable levels. It also has a long history of selling off precious land at its sites which could have been used for parking or for new buildings rather than for supermarkets and private flats.

Last summer, it took an unprecedented protest by local activists, disability campaigners and patients to stop them introducing charges for disabled Blue Badge holders.

Shortly after the Health Secretary introduced guidelines to prevent Hospital Trusts from charging ‘unreasonable’ amounts for parking.

 

Since then; there’s been no sign of any change.

This recent ‘Get Surrey’ article needs some explanation.

There are two car parks used exclusively by staff and which for many years have been rented to St. Peter’s for £10 a year which reflected the goodwill the local community had for ‘our’ hospitals.

Since then the Trust has hiked the charges to a ridiculous level.

What has the council done? It’s taking back the car parks under it’s own control and will be charging it’s own rates which will be considerably less than the hospital’s charges.

So the community gets the money, the patients and staff pay less and there are no fewer spaces than before.

Oh, and a clear message has been sent to the trust that enough is enough.

So, whatever you do don’t sign!

 

Hospital workers unable to use staff car park as council hikes rental cost - Get Surrey

 By Georgina Townshend

Runnymede Borough Council has increased the rent for land used as a St Peter’s Hospital staff car park from £10 a year to £140,000

 

Workers at St Peter’s Hospital have been told to leave staff car parks after Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) hiked the cost of renting the land.

There are around 200 spaces for staff at the Chertsey hospital, with the trust leasing the land for just £10 a year. The agreement expired in June 2013 and has not been extended, with a hospital source suggesting RBC is asking for £140,000.

 

The hospital has been given three months to leave the land and the car parks will be used for public parking – anticipated to be available next year.

 

St Peter’s chief executive Suzanne Rankin said: “We are very disappointed not to have found a mutually agreeable solution but, as a hospital trust, we simply cannot afford a significant rise in rent for this space.

“Losing this will create significant impact on staff parking and we have done everything possible to try and negotiate an affordable agreement. We will now have to re-provide parking elsewhere, at a considerable – one-off – cost.

The chief executive said the replacement car parks identified are ‘at the bottom of a steep hill and are better suited for staff parking as they are further away from the hospital, allowing us to prioritise closer spaces for patients and visitors, away from the busy main road.’

A source, who wished to remain anonymous, described the parking areas as little more than ‘woodland’ and believes the figure asked for by the council was around £140,000.

 

Neither RBC nor St Peter’s would be drawn on the exact figures but the hospital did confirm it was ‘extremely high’.

 

The council has decided to make a new public pay-and-display car park available with the charging regime the same as its town centre car parks – a lower rate than the hospital public car parks.

 

An RBC spokesman said: “The council is conscious of NHS advice public car parking charges at hospitals should be reasonable. Hospital staff can continue to park in these car parks subject to parking charges.”

 

Ms Rankin added, car parking is always an ‘emotive issue’ for hospitals. She said: “There are certain times of the day when we simply don’t have enough parking spaces, particularly for staff.

 

"At a time when hospitals are under unprecedented pressure – felt by patients and staff – one of my main aims is to support staff in their working life and maintain their resilience as we know this drives quality of care.

 

“I regularly receive emails from staff unable to find a space and I am concerned they will find this the last straw and consider working elsewhere.

 

“We already experience significant difficulty recruiting clinical staff and anything which makes the trust a less attractive place to work is a serious concern in terms of the impact on the care we provide for local people.”

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

A kind of 'Victory'.

This is a kind of ‘victory’; a recognition that car park charges at hospitals are a tax on staff, patients and their visitors. The only fair system is rationing spaces on need and using revenues from car parking to help those using public transport get to hospital.

 

BBC News 23 August 2014

Hospital car parking guidance to reduce some charges

Hospitals in England have been told to cut the cost of parking for certain groups under new government guidelines.

Ministers said relatives of people who were seriously ill or had to stay in hospital for a long time should be given free parking or reduced charges.

Concessions should also be offered to people with disabilities and NHS staff whose shift patterns meant they could not use public transport, they said.

Labour accused the coalition of dropping plans to scrap the charges.

Hospital parking policies are set by individual NHS trusts.

The Department of Health guidance made it clear trusts were responsible for the actions of private car parking contractors running facilities on their behalf.

'Rip-off' costs

 

The guidelines also recommended hospitals should use "pay-on-exit" schemes so motorists pay only for the time they use in a hospital car park.

And they say trusts should waive fines if a visitor or patient overstays through no fault of their own, for example because treatment took longer than planned, or when staff have to work beyond their scheduled shift.

 

“Hospital parking has become a stealth tax on the vulnerable”

Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow

 

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "Patients and families shouldn't have to deal with the added stress of unfair parking charges.

"These clear ground rules set out our expectations, and will help the public hold the NHS to account for unfair charges or practices."

Mr Hunt had come under pressure from Conservative backbenchers to put an end to "rip-off" costs.

As part of that campaign, Harlow MP Robert Halfon sent Freedom of Information requests to almost 400 hospitals in England. The data he collected shows big differences in average costs across the country.

London had the highest charges, with an average of £20 a day and more than £130 a week.

The lowest charges were in the East Midlands, where parking costs were £3.50 per day and £11 per week.

Average patient and visitor parking charges in England

      Per hour Per day Per week

      Source: Freedom of Information requests compiled by Robert Halfon MP

      East of England  £2  £8.50  £25

      East Midlands    £1  £3.50  £11

      London                £2  £20     £131.50

      North East          £1  £3.50  £20.50

      North West        £2  £5.50  £19

      South East          £2  £9.50  £29

      West Midlands  £2  £6.50  £22.50

      Yorkshire            £1  £4.50  £29

 

Mr Halfon described the announcement as a "massive step forward" but said he wanted to see charges scrapped altogether, at a cost of £200m.

"Hospital parking has become a stealth tax on the vulnerable," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"The stories that we've had of people not being able to use the machines so they haven't been able to see their dying relatives is quite horrific and we have to make a change."

 

'Extortionate'

 

Ben Ruth, who received two parking tickets as he visited his dying father in the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, said the experience left him feeling "sickened".

"The second one was stuck on the windscreen when I left the hospital ward just after my father passed away," he said.

"I've rarely felt such rage as I felt right then. After the exceptional kindness of the medical staff in my father's ward, I felt grievously assaulted."

Macmillan Cancer Support said some patients were paying "extortionate" charges "in order to access treatment for a life-threatening illness".

Welcoming Mr Hunt's announcement, Duleep Allirajah - head of policy at the charity - urged hospitals not to ignore the guidance.

"Hospitals must... commit to implementing the guidelines as a matter of urgency so that cancer patients do not continue to pay unfair hospital parking charges," he said.

 

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogsdpot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

"We're not gloating!"

This is from today's 'Get Surrey', and it's the more official version of what happened yesterday - the paper got sent the hospital press release.

I like 'Get Surrey' as the paper keeps an eye on developments in the NHS and reports on local campaigns, which is why I always credit their reports. Just as well, because when the online version of the paper reported the Egham meeting they stole my photo from here, without crediting it!

Nice to know you're keeping an eye on the Blog - hey?

plans to start charging disability blue badge holders to park at Ashford & St Peter's hospitals have been withdrawn.
The surprise U-turn came at the NHS trust's board meeting on Thursday, the day before the scheduled introduction of controversial parking charges.
The trust was due to start charging all blue badge holders, although people on benefits would have been able to claim parking charges back.
The meeting on Thursday was to allow the board to "reflect" on the decision to introduce the charges, as well as assess the "strength of feeling" from the public.
Members of the public were informed by trust chairman Aileen McLeish that they would no longer be going ahead with plans to charge all blue badge holders.
A petition had been signed by more than 700 people, calling on the plans to be scrapped.

@ASPHFT Board has listened to feedback from local people and has made the decision not to charge blue badge holders for parking
— Ashford & St Peter's (@ASPHFT) July 31, 2014

Caroline Williams, who started the petition, said she was "walking on air" when she heard the announcement.
Mrs Williams, from Molesey Road in Hersham, said: "I was totally stunned. I thought they were going to have made their decision.
"I thought it was a done deal. I started the petition on a Friday night and by the morning I had 10 signatures. It went up to 100 and I thought 'this has got some momentum'.
"Not everyone with a badge is on benefits. I thought the little people needed some help.
"I want to thank everybody who has helped with the campaign and signed the petition."
A meeting was held on July 17 at the Hythe Centre in Egham, to discuss the changes, which were met with heated disapproval.
'Over a barrel'
Fellow campaigner Mick Flannigan added: "We are not gloating, but this comes as an immense relief to many disabled people and their carers.
"We had feared the worst, as the board seemed to have us over a barrel. They seemed not to be taking any notice of the petition from over 700 objectors, plus the great show of anger at a recent public meeting.
"Only this week, notices had been fixed at the hospitals, making it clear that the new charges would come into force on August 1 - and that blue badge holders would have to take a ticket and make the due payment before passing through the exit barriers.
"So to all appearances, it [had] looked like the board's promised 'reflection' on its proposals was not being honoured."

Anyway the lessons from this protest are that if you are targettign a local body; keep the protests aims limited and achievable, mobilise support quickly and make the pain of carrying out the decision far greater than the financial saving.

We fight on!
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home; helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestopkeep@gmail.com

One more push? Disabled parking charges at Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals.

The Board of Ashford and St. Peter's NHS Foundation Trust meets again on Thursday 31st July 2014 at 2-00pm, Chertsey House, Ashford Hospital.

This matters because at the last meeting the board decided that disabled people with blue badges would no longer get free parking.

As you'll remember, the Trust held a 'consultation' meeting at The Hythe, Egham after they took that decision and were faced with a hall full of people who came to register their opposition to the change.

I don't believe that many people are inherently bad and as the Chair told us that the board would reconsider the decision in the light of this consultation we will have to take them at their word.

I do believe that sometimes, you have to help people to make the right decision.

So we need to be there, to help the board do the right thing and to bear witness if they do not.

I've got difficulties being there but I'm going to try and I'd urge others to do the same, even though it's a working day.

We'll see what happens!

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Ashford and St. Peter's NHS Foundation Trust hammering the disabled.

On Thursday afternoon I headed to The Hythe Community Centre in Egham for a public consultation by  Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust about its decision to charge disabled badge holders for parking at the hospitals.

The meeting only happened because  Caroline Williams had organised a Twitter petition to oppose this – in a very short time gaining 500 + signatures.

Holding the meeting in working hours prevented many from attending including Caroline herself but many disabled people, including some prominent activists, managed to attend as you can see;

 

I counted 47 before the meeting began.

While the Trust called the meeting a ‘consultation’ they eventually admitted that the consultation had actually happened already and that the decision had already been taken at the previous board meeting.

Here’s the Chair Aileen McLeish and Simon Martin the Director of Finance;

 

The consultation consisted of talking to the specially picked ‘patients panel’, the hopeless governors and the disability access group.

We were told that while there were disagreements all three groups had supported the decision but then two members of the disability access group got up and explained that all their representatives had opposed this proposal.

This is Valerie Bartlett the deputy chief executive;

 

My question got an admission from the director of finance that the estimated income made from charging disabled people and their carers for parking will be £105,000 per year – a sum that could have been saved by cancelling the hospital’s spring ‘fact finding’ mission to America to observe how private medical care works, at a cost of £128,000 or £10,666 per person.

Here's an alternative; Andrew Liles the Chief Executive didn't bother to attend – perhaps he was preparing for his new job as a consultant for a private medical group. His current salary is £188,000 before benefits are included – there’s a potential saving for a start.

Borough councillors for the area attended, one pointing out that it is always the disabled who end up paying while other members of the audience explained how all disabled groups present opposed this decision.

There were plenty of questions from the floor and no one was prepared to be patronised either;

The Director of Finance confirmed to me that parking revenue is currently £1.4 million with a further £350,000 paid by staff who are understandably very angry that they are forced to pay to park at their own workplaces.

One member of the disability advisory group explained how he was “disappointed, annoyed, upset but not surprised” by the decision.

The depth of anger was remarkable and only inflamed when governors for Woking and Hounslow stated that they had voted for the charges – unelected ‘representatives’ speaking for no one but themselves.

Certainly, Hounslow, Brentford and Feltham people would have put their ‘representative’ in his place if he’d spoken to them about his decision to support this charge.

When the chair told us that our views would be put to the board at its next meeting and that the decision could be reversed I demanded that it be put to a vote of the meeting to ensure that everyone was clear how we all felt; everyone except the unelected governor for Hounslow voted against the charges.

We won’t be giving up on this one any time soon – Disabled badge holders are the most vunerable and most frequent users of the hospitals.

People on benefits are unaware that they can get refunds because there is no publicity to tell people about this but in any event, members of the audience made it clear that many people not on benefits suffer real hardship paying the parking fees.

The financial pressures of attending hospital as a patient or a visitor are clearly alien to managers whose large salaries put them in another world.

At the heart of all this is a determination by disabled people that there is a principle here – no tax on patients.

Equally determined , the hospital management want this charge to take away the last group who get free parking.

Next stop? More charges, more privatisation.

Keep your eyes on this space, the fight continues!

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com