£220 per year to park you car at work, the joys of the NHS.

[Mike Sales]

I have been visiting our local hospital daily for treatment.
I am quite lucky in that I have a bus stop outside my house, change at the bus station and good service to the hospital. Free by bus pass, but £8.20 when I misplaced it, and a bit of a slog when I started on crutches but now I am much fitter.
Rather easier by car when I had to beg a lift on Sundays, but I prefer the bus for several reasons.
I have cycled to appointments (about 10 miles) when fitter.
I note there is a cycle shelter and park, but the shelter is much too small for the number of parked bikes, which is not large, maybe twenty in a corner of acres of car park. This is in a town which is flat as a table.
I was an in-patient at Nuffield Orthopaedic, Oxford for a time, and as it happens my ward was above the very large room given over to cycle parking. I could not observe security, but the facility was well used.

I give these notes to add to the debate and for others to draw their own conclusions.

I see that Rob Archer has added his experience, and I agree; I have always thought that if car parking at a hospital is going to be free, then so should be the buses going to it .

[pete75]

They do it at Taunton hospital too. Poor nursing (and other) staff, working unsocial hours, public transport a joke, too far away to bike - forced to pay a huge sum from their meagre wages just to park their cars at work! Terrible for patients and visitors too. All to fund the PFI contracts introduced by the LABOUR party under Anthony B.LIAR. Utter disgrace to our country.

PFI was introduced by a Conservative government under John Major.

But most of them were started under Blair I think you'll find. The Tory scum didn't have long enough under Major to set many up. It was the saintly Labour under leader Blair that negotiated most of them.

If you want to attribute the blame for all PFI to the Tories who came up with the idea then by the same logic the NHS is a Liberal party creation. Or we can keep on with alternative facts and blame/ credit according to our politics.

Hmmm I was correcting a poster who said PFI contracts were introduced by the Labour party. I don't think the PM was involved in negotiating them - they were a matter for Individual NHS trusts etc. It's not uprising though that Tory Blair encouraged the use of a Tory invention.

Where was I attributing any blame ?

BTW the NHS was created in 1948. The last Liberal government fell in 1922.

[pwa]

Remember what hospitals are for. They are for the sick,

And what sick people need is medical treatment and care - while some here appear to think that resources are better diverted from that to car storage facilities.

Car storage facilities that facilitate staff, patients and visitors to get to and from treatment areas.

[Pete Owens]

Remember what hospitals are for. They are for the sick,

And what sick people need is medical treatment and care - while some here appear to think that resources are better diverted from that to car storage facilities.

Car storage facilities that facilitate staff, patients and visitors to get to and from treatment areas.

Only those with the means to run a car and the ability to drive one. I realise that to car owners these are the only people of any importance.

[Cyril Haearn]

For a sick or dying person in hospital visits from family members and others are very desirable

[pete75]

Remember what hospitals are for. They are for the sick,

And what sick people need is medical treatment and care - while some here appear to think that resources are better diverted from that to car storage facilities.

Car storage facilities that facilitate staff, patients and visitors to get to and from treatment areas.

Yes they do but why shouldn't a parking fee be charged for those facilities - they cost money to provide and maintain. As for employees being charged , why not? If parking is free for those who choose to drive then maybe those who choose not to should get a salary supplement equal to the cost of providing a parking space. They're not free. When we provided "free" parking passes at work £300 went out of my departmental budget for every member of staff who had one. My suggestion that everyone who didn't have one be given an extra £300 per annum salary didn't go down well with top management.

[pete75]

For a sick or dying person in hospital visits from family members and others are very desirable

If you were in hospital and dying would you really want visits from the sort of family member who was put off coming to see you by having to pay a few quid to park?

[Mike Sales]

I will investigate the cycle parking facilities at the Pilgrim Hospital more closely and report back.
The cycling facilities on the road to it from town are poor to non-existent too.

[pete75]

I will investigate the cycle parking facilities at the Pilgrim Hospital more closely and report back.
The cycling facilities on the road to it from town are poor to non-existent too.

Personally I'd just ride up Spilsby Road which is fine for cycling or rather it is outside of work and school travel periods.

[Mike Sales]

I will investigate the cycle parking facilities at the Pilgrim Hospital more closely and report back.
The cycling facilities on the road to it from town are poor to non-existent too.

Personally I'd just ride up Spilsby Road which is fine for cycling.

As you must know, not everybody feels the same about riding in traffic as you.

[pete75]

I will investigate the cycle parking facilities at the Pilgrim Hospital more closely and report back.
The cycling facilities on the road to it from town are poor to non-existent too.

Personally I'd just ride up Spilsby Road which is fine for cycling.

As you must know, not everybody feels the same about riding in traffic as you.

If you want to ride a bike and use public roads you have to ride in traffic. I've been riding bikes for over 50 years and never been bothered about riding on roads. I suspect most cyclists on here are the same. What's the problem?
Personally I'd be more bothered about putting my health into the hands of the Grimpil than riding up Spilsby Rd.

[pq]

I haven't read any of this thread, but it's an example of something that shocks me.

I haven't lived in the UK for 6 years and rarely visit, but my other half was admitted to hospital last month in the UK. We were absolutely horrified by how dysfunctional it was. The staff were great, but there were so few of them, the ward she was on didn't function in any meaningful sense. Essentially she bed blocked for a week while waiting to see a doctor, was never in that time properly admitted, and when the woman in the bed next to her died, it took them 6 hours to move the body.

I also read the UK media and see endlessly how underfunded the NHS is, how it's used as a political football, and the stealth privatisation.

Given all this, the British should be rioting in the streets, but all they're ever bothered about is the car park. It is absolutely bizarre. And here we are, 20 pages of bickering about parking charges.

Interestingly, our local hospital (in France) which is absolutely superb, has free parking. The result of that is that it's not even worth attempting to find a space, it's always absolutely full. We park in nearby streets which must be a total nuisance to the residents.

[pete75]

I haven't read any of this thread, but it's an example of something that shocks me.

I haven't lived in the UK for 6 years and rarely visit, but my other half was admitted to hospital last month in the UK. We were absolutely horrified by how dysfunctional it was. The staff were great, but there were so few of them, the ward she was on didn't function in any meaningful sense. Essentially she bed blocked for a week while waiting to see a doctor, was never in that time properly admitted, and when the woman in the bed next to her died, it took them 6 hours to move the body.

I also read the UK media and see endlessly how underfunded the NHS is, how it's used as a political football, and the stealth privatisation.

Given all this, the British should be rioting in the streets, but all they're ever bothered about is the car park. It is absolutely bizarre. And here we are, 20 pages of bickering about parking charges.

Interestingly, our local hospital (in France) which is absolutely superb, has free parking. The result of that is that it's not even worth attempting to find a space, it's always absolutely full. We park in nearby streets which must be a total nuisance to the residents.

Yep a friend had a heart attack in France and was surprised at the speed and quality of treatment. Apparently French medics regard the treatment given in the first hour after the attack as extremely important for survival and recovery. Contrast that with the UK where A&E only aim to treat within four hours and often don't even manage that. The NHS website even says "However, in recent years the proportion of patients looked after within 4 hours has been falling". https://www.england.nhs.uk/five-year-fo ... ency-care/
No wonder France's heart disease death rate is about a quarter of the UK's.

[pwa]

And what sick people need is medical treatment and care - while some here appear to think that resources are better diverted from that to car storage facilities.

Car storage facilities that facilitate staff, patients and visitors to get to and from treatment areas.

Only those with the means to run a car and the ability to drive one. I realise that to car owners these are the only people of any importance.

Or those like my Mum, who get ferried around by relatives.

[pete75]

Car storage facilities that facilitate staff, patients and visitors to get to and from treatment areas.

Only those with the means to run a car and the ability to drive one. I realise that to car owners these are the only people of any importance.

Or those like my Mum, who get ferried around by relatives.

If those relatives can afford to run a car they can afford the parking fees.