Parking charges for New Cross Hospital cancer patients cut
Parking charges for cancer patients at New Cross Hospital have been cut by more than half by health bosses.
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust will now charge a flat rate of 70p per day for the patients, down from £1.50.
But an MP in the city has called for the trust to go one step further and get rid of the parking fee altogether.
Eleanor Smith, MP for Wolverhampton South West, said: “I’m pleased to announce New Cross Hospital has revised car parking charges for cancer patients. I wrote to the New Cross chief executive David Laughton in June asking for a review of charges after being contacted by a constituent.
“I appreciate this reduction to 70p per day – down from £1.50 – is a real saving, and as such will be welcomed.
“However, there are hospitals who do not charge at all and this is the situation I would like to see adopted here in Wolverhampton, if at all possible in future.”
But Ms Smith, who worked as a nurse for 40 years, said the NHS needed “proper funding” in order for it to be fully scrapped.
The MP added: “I am very aware that New Cross, like many hospitals, is facing terrible capital resourcing issues and uses car parking cash for development, refurbishment and equipment.
“The NHS needs proper funding.”
A spokesman from the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said: “After being contacted by local MP, Eleanor Smith, we have reviewed our car parking charges for patients who are receiving treatment for cancer.
"We are pleased to announce that we are able to reduce the rate from £1.50 a day to 70p per day for patients who are receiving treatment for cancer.”
The new reduced charge for the Oncology patients, who are receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy, is now in place at the hospital, having been introduced on September 1.
Free parking is only offered by the trust to Renal patients receiving dialysis.
It was revealed at the end of last year how hospital trusts in the West Midlands had made more than £11 million from parking charges and penalty fines.
Figures released by the NHS showed the five trusts covering the Black Country and Staffordshire made nearly £3.4m from staff and a further £8.2m from patients and visitors in 2017-18. The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust brought in £2.6m during the period covered.
