MS Patients Protest over Hospital disabled parking charges

3.00.00pm GMT Sun 4th Jun 2006

The protests over parking charges at the West Middlesex hospital have gown with a succession of Multiple Sclerosis sufferers writing letters of protest to their MP, Vincent Cable. Vincent Cable has taken up the issue with the hospital and is meeting the national Multiple Sclerosis society on Thursday to discuss this issue (among others).

The West Middlesex charges for visitors, staff and out patients and now, from June 1st, the disabled. While there is financial assistance for hardship cases - people on benefit - through a hospital scheme, many are not eligible. The hospital argues that the charges are necessary, otherwise parking would be subsidised from clinical services. But disabled groups are incensed that, while their blue badges exempt them from normal parking charges, they have to pay at the hospital which they have to attend for medical reasons.

Vincent Cable said: "this is part of a pattern recently highlighted by the House of Commons Select Committee whereby hospitals are increasingly resorting to charges - for telephone calls, drugs for outpatients and day surgery services and parking charges to boost their income. In this case, the parking management has been outsourced to some operator seeking to turn it into a profit centre. And on a separate issue, I recently had disabled patients on kidney dialysis telling me that they face clamping and parking fines if they stop near the entrance to the renal unit which they have to use".

"It is clearly better for the hospital to have parking spaces available at a charge than not at all, as in the case with some hospitals nearer central London. But there needs to be some sensitivity to the needs of disabled people who have to attend the hospital but whose medical condition does not allow them to come by cycle or bus".