‘No plans’ to reduce parking charges in local hospitals

The HSE has no plans to reduce parking charges at hospital car parks but will consider a request to introduce a sliding scale of charges based on the length of time spent in the car park.

The matter was raised at the June meeting of Regional Health Forum West and Northwest in Galway last week by Sligo-based Cllr Marie Casserly who asked: “Is there any facility for a sliding scale of charges, such as where a visitor stays for half an hour or an hour, which can happen where family members are coming in at different times but not staying long. If we could have a reduced charge or sliding scale of charges so that not everyone has to pay three euros for 20 minutes and the next family member the same, because if you are not staying the full hour, you should not have to pay the full amount.” 

Area Healthcare Manager John Fitzmaurice told the forum: “Currently there are no plans to look at it, to be quite frank with you, but it is a fair point you raise and is something we will take into consideration. We try to take into account overall costs, considering that some people may be in hospital for a couple of hours and some for days. However, I think your point does warrant some consideration and getting that balance between not having excess costs for time in place, so we will discuss it on site but there are no plans to change what we have.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.