Parking charges will increase for patients and visitors at hospitals in Newcastle from 1 July. In some cases they could see a 67% increase when staying up to an hour and while others will be hit by a 100% hike when staying up to five hours on the standard tariff (£12 from £6).
The new charges will apply across the Trust’s hospital sites including the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Freeman Hospital starting from the first day of next month. The NHS Foundation Trust has said the decision to introduce the new charges has not been taken lightly.
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The change is likely to provoke anger however, there are concessions available for those struggling to afford the hike. Parking charges for NHS staff in England returned in April 2022.
The NHS Foundation Trust said: "This can be extremely distressing for our patients as it can lead to lengthy delays and on some occasions, has resulted in patients missing appointments while trying to get parked. We continue to do everything we can to support those people accessing our services and have introduced a number of concessions to minimise any impact on our patients and those visiting loved ones."
"We have introduced a long stay patient tariff so those patients who are with us for longer than four hours will have their parking capped. Alongside this we have a wide range of concessions to support different patient groups.
"Concessions available include free parking for those patients attending frequently and free overnight parking for parents whose children are admitted to hospital and stay overnight. Reduced tariffs are also available for those vising long stay patients and anyone who has an unplanned or emergency admission."
Patients who are in receipt of qualifying benefits may also claim travel expenses through the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme if applicable.
Existing costs and charges
- First 20 minutes - Free
- 1-5 hours - £1.20 per hour (or part hour)
- 6-24 hours (Monday – Friday) - £7.20
- 3 – 24 hours (Saturday – Sunday) - £3.60
The new charges are as follows:
Standard tariff
- First 30 minutes – Free of charge
- Up to 1 hour – £2
- 1-2 hours – £4
- 2-3 hours – £6
- 3-4 hours – £8
- 4-5 hours – £12
- 5 – 24 hours – £18
Long stay patient tariff
- First 30 minutes – Free of charge
- Up to 1 hour – £2
- 1-2 hours – £4
- 2-3 hours – £6
- 3-4 hours – £8
- 4-5 hours – £8
- 5 – 24 hours – £8
A number of concessions apply and these include:
Disabled - Applies to all users and concession must be activated at main reception prior to departure. This excludes staff who may not use patient spaces and must hold a valid staff parking permit - Free
Frequent outpatient attender - Offered to patients who attend hospital appointments at least 3 times per month for an overall period of 3 months or more. A month is defined as 30 days - Free
Monthly attender - Available to patients who attend at least once per month for a period of 3 months or more - £3 per visit - Unexpected or emergency admission - Available to patients who attend an appointment and are unexpectedly admitted to hospital or attend for treatment and have an unplanned admission - £3 per day
Maternity unplanned delivery - Provided for those who attend for unplanned delivery only - Parking is provided in dedicated bays and only for the duration of birth. Planned births are not eligible. Valid for up to 48 hours - Free
Visitor weekly concession - A concession valid for 7 days for visitors to an inpatient - The concession pass may be shared and is not limited to a single vehicle but is valid for only one vehicle to be parked at any time - Any additional vehicles are required to pay the full tariff - £21
Visitor monthly concession - A concession valid for a full calendar month for visitors to an inpatient - The concession pass may be shared and is not limited to a single vehicle but is valid for only one vehicle to be parked at any time - Any additional vehicles are required to pay the full tariff - £40
Residential - A concession provided to relatives / carers of patients required to stay in Trust Accommodation and valid for the duration of the patients stay in hospital - £15
Parents of sick children staying overnight - A concession provided to parents a child (under 18 years of age) admitted to hospital and staying overnight - A maximum of 2 vehicles to be parked overnight between the hours on 6pm and 9am - If a weekly or monthly visitor concession is held then only one night concession will be issued in addition to visitor pass - Free
All details of parking charges are on the Trust website at https://www.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/
A full list of concessions can be found here
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