HOSPITAL car parking charges in Scotland must be cut "without delay", the Scottish health secretary said yesterday.
Nicola Sturgeon said parking should be free unless traffic congestion made charges "unavoidable".
She warned that a £3-a-day maximum charge, announced last month, should be implemented within weeks.
But it remains unclear when charges at the P
FI car parks at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Glasgow Royal Infirmary will be brought in line with the cap for NHS-run facilities.
Yesterday a report by an independent review group set out guidance on hospital parking and factors to consider when deciding on charges. It said charges at some commercial sites were regarded as "excessive".
The PFI car park at Glasgow Royal Infirmary charges £1.10 an hour, while the PFI-built Edinburgh Royal Infirmary car park, run by the private firm Consort, has a £7-a-day cap.
The report said: "While we accept that current commercial contracts have to be honoured, charges for parking – whether commercially provided or in-house – must fully comply with the principles of this guidance."
This means that health boards will be expected to consider the guidance when renegotiating parking contracts with commercial companies.
Patients using NHS-run car parks in Glasgow and Edinburgh will benefit most from the £3 cap. Visitors to the Western General in Edinburgh, and Yorkhill, Western Infirmary, Gartnavel and Victoria hospitals in Glasgow have faced a £7 maximum daily charge.
Yesterday's report said that where possible, parking should be free. Health boards have claimed that charges are justified because car parks are used by people not visiting hospitals.
Ms Sturgeon said: "The review group has endorsed the view that in general, car parking at hospitals should be free."
She added: "Evidence from a number of health boards shows that charging high daily rates is not the only way to discourage or control unauthorised parking and I agree with the group's recommendation that all other avenues should be explored before charges are introduced."
The review group said that hospitals charging less than the recommended £3 a day cap should not change prices. Many hospitals charge only £1 to £2.
An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokeswoman said the £3 cap would be in place by the end of February at the latest.
John Jack, director of facilities, said NHS Lothian would implement the guidance as soon as possible.
"This guidance only affects the Western General Hospital at this stage. We have estimated the loss in income will be around £20,000 a year."
A spokeswoman for Consort, which runs the ERI's PFI car park, said: "We have got to look in detail at what the review is saying before we make any comment.
"We have regular discussions with our partners at the ERI. As a result of these discussions, last year the maximum charge for parking at the ERI was reduced from £10 to £7 a day."
Public sector union Unison welcomed the presumption that parking should be free, but said £3 was still a lot for those on low incomes. It called for PFI car parks to be brought in line with guidance as soon as possible.
Tom Waterson, chair of Unison's Scottish health group, said: "Private companies should not be profiteering from staff going to work and relatives visiting patients."
PATIENTS PAY HIGH PRICESUNIONS and patient groups have long campaigned for a cut in hospital parking charges.
In recent years they have also expressed concern about other fees charged to patients.
Patientline provides bedside TV and phones in eight Scottish hospitals.
Last year the company was forced to cut the price of outgoing calls from 26p a minute back to 10p after increasing them just months earlier.
But the cost for people phoning someone in hospital remains at 26p a minute. The company also charges £2.50 a day to watch TV in hospital.
The full article contains 653 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
