PATIENTS, staff and visitors have saved £90 million on hospital parking fees since charges were abolished, it has been announced.
The SNP said the savings meant keeping money “in the pockets of NHS staff as well as patients and families at some of the most difficult times in their lives”.
The figure was revealed in an answer to a written question tabled in Holyrood by Emma Harper on what savings had been made since the policy was scrapped during the SNP’s first term in power.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “The estimated saving for patients, visitors and staff who used NHS car parks that previously charged for car parking is over £90m.”
Most Scottish hospitals have not charged for parking since 2008 however the Scottish Government was forced to buy out the private finance initiative (PFI) car parks at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Ninewells Hospital in Dundee in 2021 for £26.3m and £9m, respectively.
At that time, it was reported that talks with the PFI operator of the car park at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh were “progressing” and NHS Lothian says that charges are currently suspended.
While car parking fees can be a cash cow for the NHS, with trusts in England ploughing the money back into the health service, the SNP have long complained that visitors and staff were being charged to fund private companies leasing out car parks.
SNP MSP Clare Haughey said: “This is exactly the kind of action people expect from a government that puts public services first.
“By scrapping these unfair and unnecessary car parking charges, the SNP have saved people across Scotland more than £90m, money that stays in the pockets of NHS staff as well as patients and families at some of the most difficult times in their lives.
“While Westminster governments have allowed these charges to continue in parts of England, the SNP have delivered meaningful change that puts fairness and wellbeing first.”
