Hospital visitors paid £18,000 to park cars (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Hospital visitors paid £18,000 to park cars

VISITORS who park their cars at Evesham Community Hospital paid more than £18,000 last year, according to figures released this week.

But unlike most areas, where the cash is swallowed up by private companies, or used to maintain the car parks, drivers' parking fees are going back into the National Health Service.

South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust said they had ploughed the cash straight back into services in the area.

The 50p an hour car park is also one of the cheapest in the region.

The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust - which runs hospitals including Worcestershire Royal Hospital, the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital - raised almost £1million last year from parking fees.

Worcestershire Royal Hospital accounted for almost half of the total - £498,000 - while the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch made £378,000 and Kidderminster Hospital £119,000.

Trust bosses said that, unlike Evesham, it was making no significant profit from these charges with the money just about covering the costs of developing and maintaining the car parks.

Charges at the larger hospitals in the county were crippling for elderly visitors and patients, warned Brian Hunt, a member of Worcestershire Pensioners' Action Group.

"Those who are ill can't use the bus and have no option but to drive and pay the consequences," he said. It's preying on the vulnerable."

The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals total income last year of £995,000 was 16th highest in the figures supplied for the West Midlands. The top spot went to the University Hospital, Birmingham, which raked in £1.5m over the same period.