Free parking ruled out at Sandwell Hospital
Free 30-minute parking for patients and visitors to Sandwell Hospital has been ruled out by bosses.
Managers at the hospital said it would cost them £500,000 a year and risk eating into patient care.
At the minute, drivers get 15 minutes free but Sandwell Council asked for an extension after learning Telford's Princess Royal and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital offer 30 minutes at no charge.
Councillor Bob Lloyd, who is a member of the council's health scrutiny board that posed the question, said: "We looked at other car parks such as Shrewsbury and asked why can't they follow them and do that? They have been able to do it so why can't we? It is a big concern to people but they say it is not a money maker.
"One of the questions we raised was 'would it be equitable?'.
"Their rationale is that they only charge what it costs to provide and maintain the car park. We don't want to remove money from patient care and what we don't want to see is them give free parking and no do any operations for a year."
Chairman of the scrutiny board, Councillor Paul Sandars said he was going to press hospital bosses for more answers on the issue.
The cost of hospital parking has proved to be a contentious issue among politicians and campaigners who believe patients and visitors are being made to pay too much.
It currently costs £2.60 to park for an hour at Sandwell Hospital, £3.60 for two hours, £4.10 for three hours and £4.60 for four hours. A 24-hour stay costs £5.10.
A report from Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Sandwell General, said: "The trust was asked to assess the feasibility of adopting similar parking charges to that of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in that parking be free for all visitors for the first half and hour, then capped at a reasonable rate for any additional period.
"The cost to offer this additional 15 minutes free parking at SWBH would be cost prohibitive and is not currently being considered.
"There are also no proposals to apply the tariff from Shrewsbury and Telford at SWBH. The infrastructure, car parking and security arrangements are very different and the impact of the proposal would be a deficit of circa £500,000 per annum."
