A SENIOR boss at Gobowen’s Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt (RJAH) Hospital Trust has defended a six-figure rise in car parking charges in 2023.

Nick Huband, director of Estates and Facilities, said that monies raised from car parking changes - £239,000 in 2023 whichw as £165,000 up on 2022 – is re-invested back into services offered by the hospital.

And he added that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, staff at the hospital are not charged and that there are no plans to re-introduce that policy.

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He said: “Our car park is the first point of contact with our hospital for many of the users of our services, and we are committed to maintaining quality standards that mirror our patient care.

“The revenue generated in our car parks is fully re-invested back into hospital services and patient care.

“We do our best to minimise the cost to visitors by offering regular users the option to purchase a weekly or 10-visit car parking ticket.

“We offer card payments, as well as cash, to make it as easy as possible and we also have dedicated drop-off points on the hospital site, providing 20 minutes parking free of charge.

“Staff car parking charges are also paused and have been since the beginning of 2020. There are no current plans to re-introduce them.”

Latest NHS England figures show RJAH’s car parking charges of £239,000 were made up from visitor payments.

The figures represent the gross income earned by the NHS and do not consider its own costs for providing car parking.

Nationally, there were over 446,000 parking spaces available at NHS facilities, a decline of three per cent on last year.

Of these, 1,070 were available across all sites at Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, fewer than in 2022 – when there were 1,125.

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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said parking charges are needed to help manage capacity at NHS sites, and the fees charged must not be ‘significantly more than other hospitals in the local area’.

"We will always support hardworking NHS staff and we have delivered on the commitment to provide free hospital car parking in England for those most in need.

"Since 2022, all trusts have made hospital car parking free for blue badge holders, parents of very sick children, frequent attenders and NHS staff on night shifts, and this the first time that NHS hospital car parking has been free nationally across England for these groups."