Media Watch: hospital parking charges report

Despite its potentially explosive subject matter, press reaction to Fair For All, Not Free-for-all was muted.

The Daily Telegraph reported Macmillan Cancer Support’s observation that it did not see the “morally wrong” fees as “fair”.

The Confederation’s rejection of free parking “caused dismay” among cancer charities, according to a short piece in The Guardian.

But it was another parking fees tale, one not highlighted in the document, that drew the attention of The Times on Monday, under the eye-catcher “Hospital fines its staff”.

Disgruntled staff

Managers at the Royal Preston Hospital are grappling not just with disgruntled members of the public and cancer charities over parking, but also their own nurses and doctors.

The staff, who pay £100 a year for a designated space, are refusing to buy tickets on top of this when the reserved places run out. They are also refusing to pay the resultant £40 penalties - and one nurse is said to have racked up fines totalling £900.

According to coverage in the Lancashire Evening Post, some 500 demands for payment have been sent out in recent weeks, and critical care unit staff have started a petition against the fees.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals foundation trust has so far stuck by its guns, one spokesperson bravely recommending troubled staff join its park and ride scheme.

Ideas in the Confederation’s report - aimed at getting bums onto bikes and public transport - include cutting the number of parking spaces per employee.

Royal Preston managers may wish to take a different approach, at least in the short term.