29th December 2017 By Rashleigh MacFarlane The Royal Cornwall hospital made more than £278,000 from charging patients, visitors and staff to park in the last year, according to research conducted…
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Hospital transport is charged in Cornwall – and expensive – and depends on volunteer drivers presumably donating time. In London, my mother was given free hospital transport. It can be done. Transport costs are much greater here per patient due to distances, and household income often lower. That needs to be factored in to funding formulae.
I have no particular objection to car parking charges – people used to exploit the free parking at Treliske. However, said think it should be run in-house, employing people at the site who can help and use iniative to help people. I drove a friend up yesterday for an important appointment – took a ticket from the barrier, only to find there were only disabled spaces left!!! There are many stresses in the system – e.g. Relatives not having money and needing to get home for dependents etc. They are already under stress. Some nice friendly hospital staff who can used their initiative and issue IOUs and be reassuring would be much more appropriate. As I understand it, the hospital takes no involvement so if anyone is stuck they cannot assist. I think staff get a bad deal too!!