Ben Brogan V Mrs Hart

Its not only the UK Health Minister Ben Bradshaw, who said it did not make sense to spend NHS money on "subsidising" car parks, has taken issue with Edwina Hart.
He spoke as the Department of Health (DoH) said the move went against the UK government's climate change strategy. Edwina Hart said it was "putting patients first" and accused the DoH of "sour grapes".Mr Bradshaw said: "We don't think it makes sense to spend money that's currently being spent on patient care - getting people treated faster and better - on subsidising car parks. "If that's what Scotland and Wales want to do, that's one of the joys of devolution. "We're spending the money on improving patient care. "In Wales, you have to wait much longer for your operation, you have to wait much longer in A&E [accident and emergency].

The move,by Mrs Hart has prompted a backlash from others including health trusts and environmentalists, whose concerns include:

Loss of revenue will leave cash-strapped trusts struggling to meet competing demands;

Hospital car parks may become congested as patients and visitors vie for space with shoppers and commuters;

Visitors will be tempted to drive to hospital instead of using public transport;

Car parks will no longer be maintained or monitored to their current standards.

Trusts have been told to provide plans of how they will cope with reduced income, additional costs, potential increases in demand for parking, promotion of green transport, and the potential use of hospital car parking by commuters and shoppers by May 1.

The popular move,welcomed by patients and staff alike – had been warmly welcomed by the British Medical Association (BMA) in Wales, who have dubbed parking charges a “stealth tax on illness”, and the Royal College of Nursing Wales.

But it was criticised yesterday by the influential Welsh NHS Confederation.

Director Mike Ponton said, “It costs a lot of money to run car parks and the dilemma now is how to meet these costs without impacting on patient care.

He added, “It will be even more important now to find new ways of controlling car parks to avoid misuse, particularly where hospitals are near town centres.”

Almost £5.4m was collected by NHS Trusts in Wales from hospital car parking in 2006-07.

Hugh Ross, chief executive of Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, which raises £680,581 from parking, said, “The trust is clear that there will be ongoing costs of managing car parks in the event of free parking, and that these will be substantial.

“In the absence of car parking income, these costs will have to be met from other budgets.”

His concerns were echoed by Conwy and Denbighshire NHS Trust, whose corporate support manager highlighted the “short timescale” given by the Assembly Government to implement the plans.

Meanwhile, the NHS Trusts at Pontypridd and Rhondda, and Carmarthenshire pointed out they would lose valuable revenue that is currently invested in patient services.

The Environmental Transport Association described the move as “folly”. Director Andrew Davis said, “Free parking will lead to such overcrowding that the sick will no longer be able to get to hospital in the first place.

“It is the latest example of the mismanagement of car parks by the NHS.”

Liberal Democrat AM Jenny Randerson labelled the scheme “ill-considered populism” and said it risked a situation where the most vulnerable would not be able to access vital health services, which would themselves suffer.

“There is a real danger that staff will fill up all the best parking spots first thing in the morning, meaning that the frail and vulnerable have to walk much further to enter the hospital,” she said.

But the BMA in Wales said it was up to hospitals to find new ways to fund patient care.Senior public affairs officer John Jenkins said, “Should hospitals be relying on coins from the car park to bolster patient care and pay for operations and drugs?

“Car parking charges were never meant to be an income generating scheme and should be part of the package of healthcare like beds and toilet paper.”

Asked whether Wales’ NHS trusts could afford the move, a WAG spokesperson last night said, “The budget for health and social services will rise from more than £5.4bn this year to over £5.65bn next year and to over £6bn by 2010-11.

“WAG made it clear when the budget was announced that the funding will enable work to get underway on delivering commitments set out in the One Wales document, including reform of parking charges, so NHS trusts are aware of what’s required.

“Currently around 50% of parking spaces are free of charge anyway.

“Health economists estimate that many trusts have an income in excess of £200m a year, so income generation from car parking charges forms an extremely small percentage of trust funding streams.”
What will be interesting is how Labour in Wales squares up to Labour in Whitehall, my moneys on Edwina!