Hospital parking charges rake in £7.4 million across Black Country and Staffordshire
Hospital trusts in the Black Country and Staffordshire made more than £7.4 million in parking charges last year.
Four hospital trusts in the region revealed how much they received from over the past financial year under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
Top of the list was The University Hospitals of North Midlands, which runs County Hospital in Stafford as well as Royal Stoke University Hospital.
The trust, which charges from £1.70 for less than an hour to £8.60 a day for parking, raked in £3.35m over the year.
It was followed by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Sandwell Hospital and City Hospital in Birmingham.
It made £2,271,352 from parking – patients/visitors £1,573,201 and staff £698,151.
The trust charges £2.80 for stays of up to an hour, although it is free for the first 15 minutes. It is £5.30 for the day.
Other trusts that responded to the request of information included Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which made £1,345,253 and Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, which made £455,000.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Manor Hospital, charges £2 for the first hour, and £6 a day.
Weekly concessionary passes are available for regular visitors to the hospital at a charge of £10 per week.
Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust does not charge for the first 15 minutes, but charges £2.60 for an hour, and £5.60 for a day.
Not all of the parking takings go to the trust, however, with a Private Finance Initiative taking some income.
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which runs New Cross Hospital, did not respond in time to the FOI request.
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of national healthcare charity Patients Association, said it was unfair that hospital parking in Wales and Scotland was largely free but that patients in England were still forced to pay.
She added: "The shocking reality about car parking charges is that they are taking money from the sick and vulnerable to top up NHS coffers.
"This is not what car parking charges should be used for. The NHS is clearly underfunded, but the onus on meeting the funding crisis should most certainly not be shouldered by the sick, injured and vulnerable.
"We are not talking about insignificant amounts of money, either."
