Bid to charge for hospital parking (From Western Telegraph)

Bid to charge for hospital parking

The first step towards the possible introduction of car parking charges at Withybush Hospital has been made.

The Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust Board has agreed in principle to look at the issue in detail.

The impact on staff, patients and visitors will be closely examined and the level of charges will be considered.

Problems have arisen over the years because of cars parking on double yellow lines or double parking, which means emergency vehicles such as fire engines have difficulty in gaining access to some parts of the hospital.

The car park currently has 820 spaces and it has long been recognised that there is a need for more spaces, better facilities for the disabled, improvement in traffic flow and resurfacing work.

The trust board was told that part of the revenue could be used to fund some of this work. There is a view that staff should not be charged, with the exception of those who have named reserved spaces.

But acting chief executive Keith Jones said: "We will have to look at that as part of the option. Excluding staff may affect the viability of the scheme."

He added: "There are a lot of issues to be considered. We now have to look at how charges will affect staff, patients and visitors. We will have to consider the requirements of several groups.

"For example, we would not want to penalise people who want to be with sick relatives overnight. And we would also have to consider concessions for people on benefits." Car parking charges could also have an impact on the adjacent retail park, with people who were trying to avoid charges, parking there instead.

But the trust board was told that consideration was being given to the implementation of a control system in the retail park car park.