Bath's Royal United 'took £1.3m in parking charges'

“"The RUH is served by excellent bus services..."

The 14 is quite good on weekdays. The 17 is less frequent. The 20 is only really good for those who want a day out on a circular tour of the Bath suburbs. All of them cost far too much money for the short-ish distances involved and do NOT serve most of the Bath area, not the surrounding countryside. And what about those who may need to visit the A&E (or relocated walk-in centre etc) in the evenings or at week-ends?

For a large number of people who live or work within the RUH catchment area, for most of the time the only practical and realistic method of getting to/from the RUH is by car. It is an inescapable fact and one day maybe the RUH will wake up to that fact and make proper provision.”

“I can't understand what the issue is here. Parking charges bring revenue to the NHS. The RUH is served by excellent bus services. I accept not all can use them, but many can.”

“We've all got 'choice' in healthcare now haven't we? Just go to the Bath Clinic instead. Parking is free at the point of use there; the taxpayer picks up the tab.”

“Good for them. Now plan ahead for more profits and build a large size underground car park with direct access to the hospital building!”

“I don't think less needs to be raised on Big Teds Day Out etc... But what i do think is it just bring's into question what on earth is done with £1,300,000 from one year's taking's on the car parks.. & X that by the number of years that people have had to pay to Park at the RUH .. There is a bigger can of worms here, if someone want's to open it.. All the manangement want to do is cut Doc & Nurses wages which will affect patient health.. Oh yeah & protect there own income !! Think i now need a Doctor as this makes me SICK !!”

“So why is it fair Timmy, if someone like me who lives virtually over the road from the RUH gets healthcare for absolutely free at the RUH whilst someone living say in Larkhall or Trowbridge incur additional "parking tax" towards their healthcare costs. This is why excessive parking fees being used as a fund raiser is wrong.

Of course we need some restrictions to prevent commuter abuse, and of course we need it to be self funding, but realistically how much per day per space does a patch of tarmac and a couple of ticket machines really cost - certainly not £15 per day per space. Its never going to be totally free to get from a distance to the RUH so people just have to live with that, but if the parking fee is effectively a £1 per hour tax on treatment for living at a distance then its wrong.

Of course it is true that car use needs to decline, but forcing sick people needing regular treatment to undertake journeys to hospital via a fractured public transport network which requires them to change buses/trains and hang about in the cold, really is putting principle before humanity. Start by sorting these issues out generally so people can get around including to the hospital in reasonable comfort etc and then start pushing them out of cars - not push them out of cars and hope they don't get sicker waiting around at bus stops. It definitely needs sorting properly before the Min (with its preponderance of mobility related patients) gets transferred out there.”

“If the hospital makes a profit on the car park, it has to raise less money from Ted's Big Day Out, surely?

What is this opposition to money going into the RUH's coffers? Presumably the same people also object to paying income tax, VAT and the rest, which also helps pay for healthcare.”

“I would like some figures on how much profit available to the RUH after taking into account the charges incurred by the upkeep of the car parks - according to the various notices at the entrances to each of the car parks, all profits are used for the benefit of patients. Does anyone know these figures and what, if any, benefit was gained by patients??”

“Clearly we can't have a situation which allows commuters to block up the car park. but it's certainly not beyond the wit of man to ensure that the car park is only accessible to people who are using the hospital.”

“I seem to recall that one of the reasons for introducing the charge was that commuters were using the car park at the hospital rather than those in the city, which made sure that Malcolm's sick and injured couldn't use it. Once again the car loving Northcliffe media is slanting a story for its own purposes. What happens to this money? If it goes towards patient care then Mr Skidmore will need to be clear about how the shortfall will be made up. There is no mention in the article about what happens to the money.”