Parking charges should be scrapped for patients
Hospital's parking fees attacked by MPs
This is Bradford
By Anika Bourley
Parking charges should be scrapped for patients having to attend Bradford hospitals every day, according to a group of MPs.
The Commons Health Select Committee also says there should be discounted parking for frequent visitors.
The committee's report, which said NHS charges were "a complete mess", also said the high cost of calls to hospital bedside phones is "insupportable".
Earlier this year the Telegraph & Argus revealed hospitals in Bradford raked in nearly £1 million in parking fees with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust collecting £861,000.
Nationally, the select committee report revealed hospitals make £78 million a year from parking £63 million from patients and visitors and £15 million from their own staff.
Chairman Kevin Barron said: "Parking fees should be reduced or eliminated altogether for patients attending hospitals regularly. It is unacceptable that people have to pay hundreds of pounds to attend for necessary treatment."
The report said: "While car parking charges must remain a matter for hospital trusts, we recommend that they provide reduced rates for patients and their visitors who attend regularly and free parking for those who must attend on a daily basis."
MPs also criticised the cost of incoming calls to hospital bedside telephones.
Shipley MP Philip Davies last month accused hospitals of cashing in on sick people by using private phone providers which "exploit" through extremely high charges.
He called on hospitals to research what areas mobile phones could be used safely to cut growing costs for patients.
Airedale General Hospital in Steeton, near Keighley, does not have a private phone service but has pay phones on wards. Guidance on mobile phone policy is displayed around the hospital grounds. But MPs argued some hospitals which use Patientline Plc were allowing the company to charge 49p a minute for incoming peak-time calls and 39p a minute for evenings and weekends.
A peak-rate call to Australia on a typical BT residential line costs 22p a minute but just 9p during evenings and weekends.
A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals said: "We work hard to provide car parking as cheaply as possible.
"We do understand the concerns of patients and visitors and talk regularly to patient representatives. We have recently introduced concessions for long-stay inpatients and outpatients who need to come back for regular appointments."
A spokesman for Patientline said: "Patientline charges as little as it is able to while ensuring it can keep running the service without the NHS having to contribute a penny. We have so far invested £160 million over the past ten years and have yet to make a profit due to this heavy investment programme.
"What we offer is not an essential part of someone's care it's a service they may freely choose whether to use or not. If patients and relatives did not pay for the service it would simply be withdrawn, and many thousands would be denied the choice."
This is Bradford
By Anika Bourley
Parking charges should be scrapped for patients having to attend Bradford hospitals every day, according to a group of MPs.
The Commons Health Select Committee also says there should be discounted parking for frequent visitors.
The committee's report, which said NHS charges were "a complete mess", also said the high cost of calls to hospital bedside phones is "insupportable".
Earlier this year the Telegraph & Argus revealed hospitals in Bradford raked in nearly £1 million in parking fees with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust collecting £861,000.
Nationally, the select committee report revealed hospitals make £78 million a year from parking £63 million from patients and visitors and £15 million from their own staff.
Chairman Kevin Barron said: "Parking fees should be reduced or eliminated altogether for patients attending hospitals regularly. It is unacceptable that people have to pay hundreds of pounds to attend for necessary treatment."
The report said: "While car parking charges must remain a matter for hospital trusts, we recommend that they provide reduced rates for patients and their visitors who attend regularly and free parking for those who must attend on a daily basis."
MPs also criticised the cost of incoming calls to hospital bedside telephones.
Shipley MP Philip Davies last month accused hospitals of cashing in on sick people by using private phone providers which "exploit" through extremely high charges.
He called on hospitals to research what areas mobile phones could be used safely to cut growing costs for patients.
Airedale General Hospital in Steeton, near Keighley, does not have a private phone service but has pay phones on wards. Guidance on mobile phone policy is displayed around the hospital grounds. But MPs argued some hospitals which use Patientline Plc were allowing the company to charge 49p a minute for incoming peak-time calls and 39p a minute for evenings and weekends.
A peak-rate call to Australia on a typical BT residential line costs 22p a minute but just 9p during evenings and weekends.
A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals said: "We work hard to provide car parking as cheaply as possible.
"We do understand the concerns of patients and visitors and talk regularly to patient representatives. We have recently introduced concessions for long-stay inpatients and outpatients who need to come back for regular appointments."
A spokesman for Patientline said: "Patientline charges as little as it is able to while ensuring it can keep running the service without the NHS having to contribute a penny. We have so far invested £160 million over the past ten years and have yet to make a profit due to this heavy investment programme.
"What we offer is not an essential part of someone's care it's a service they may freely choose whether to use or not. If patients and relatives did not pay for the service it would simply be withdrawn, and many thousands would be denied the choice."
posted by Neil Herron at 5:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home