Hospital Parking

There's been a bit about hospital parking for visitors and patients. I agree that some of the fees are extortionate and should be reviewed. I'm not sure it should be free though.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28905695

I want to talk about hospital parking for staff though. Anyone who works in a hospital will know that this can be a major headache. It either takes weeks to get a staff permit, or you get turned down, or it's crazy expensive. Or it's fine, maybe.

Despite my love of motorsport and fast cars (ones I would like to own, rather than ones I do own), I am a supporter of sustainable transport. There are proven health problems associated with air pollution and benefits to exercise so I think we should all make an effort if we can. Global warming is going to affect the health and wellbeing of the world's people.  Not to come over all pius but I do commute by public transport when I can, either by bus or train and cycle. The hospitals I work at are making efforts in helping cyclists get to work, in the form of safe cycle storage, showers and changing facilities. They are all serviced by buses in some way or other.

There was a study in last week's BMJ (now called thebmj in a reverse the facebook to just facebook branding exercise), which showed that those that commute by walking and cycling or using public transport  had a lower body mass index and percentage body fat than those that use their cars. So maybe hospitals should get rid of staff car parking for those who live nearby or can get public transport.
http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4887

Sometimes, however, you just need your car. Shift workers may not feel safe arriving and leaving in the dark by public transport. Sometimes the weather's awful or you've got a load of paperwork to bring in and sometimes you just can't be arsed. On those days, you need somewhere to park.

Generally, this means a staff parking permit. This tends to be a fixed monthly amount taken from your wages and proportional to your salary. So far, so fair.

But what if you only need your car twice a month? Your per-visit price would then be quite high. You've paid that set amount, you might as well get your money's worth. So you drive more often and we all miss out on the benefits of public transport.

I've heard this argument before in relation to other one-off fees such as car tax. Once you've paid it, then your cost per additional journey (or car park use) is zero, so fill your boots.

So what's the alternative? The single day parking price at my most recent hospital is £8. Two night shifts and you might as well pay monthly.

I would say is that the alternative is a reduced per-visit rate for staff. This would encourage other forms of transport without excessive punishment of those who use their car from time to time. You could retain a monthly price for those who need to use their car every day.

Is this viable for trusts? Many now farm out their parking to external companies and rely on the income that this brings in to subsidise some of their loss making activities, like providing emergency care to sick patients. But surely there's a way of structuring the pay as you go payments so they don't lose too much money, whilst making public transport a more attractive option to staff.

We already have staff smoking cessation programmes and other initiatives, such as subsidized gyms. We owe it to the staff who give so much to the hospital to make sure they stay healthy. The health system's biggest asset is those working within it.