Question reference: S3W-04464
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 19 September 2007
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Current status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 September 2007
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of hospital car parking charges on people attending casualty units at short notice to be with friends or family suffering from life-threatening conditions resulting from acute illness or involvement in serious accidents.
Answer
By introducinghospital car park charges, NHS boards can better manage car parks and greatlyimprove the availability of parking spaces for patients, visitors and carersattending hospitals.
The currentguidance on hospital car park charging states that boards must provide freeparking or concessions to certain categories of car park users, includingfrequently attending visitors for longer stay patients, patients in highdependency units and patients in intensive care areas.
The management ofhospital car parks is a local matter for NHS boards, in line with currentguidance issued by the previous administration earlier this year which the Scottish Government isreviewing. I announced the review on 14 September 2007 and I anticipate that the review group will reportback to me by the end of November.