Trust responds after staff parking fines at Altnagelvin Hospital branded ‘shameful’

Mr Durkan said he was alarmed after complaints from a number of health care staff who he said have received letters about new and outstanding fines from the Car Parking Service at Altnagelvin hospital.

As a result, Mr Durkan has written to the Trust’s chief executive calling for the dismissal of the fines.

He said: “The issue of parking fines for health workers is a perennial one and I am hugely disappointed that it should resurface during this difficult time. Such fines at any time are an affront to our hard working health staff however, to place this added burden when they are working around the clock to save lives and keep our communities safe in the midst of a health emergency, is a slap in the face.

“Car parking charges are an unfair expense on people frequently attending NHS hospitals, whether they are patients, staff or visitors. While I acknowledge and welcome the fact that parking fees have been scrapped for now within the hospital grounds, health chiefs need to look at other ways to improve parking to ensure a fairer deal for everyone.”

He added: “We will forever be indebted to our health staff, fining them for showing up to do their job when they are putting their lives on the line is nothing short of shameful.”

A Trust spokesperson said its traffic management system at Altnagelvin “ensures the site access and routes remain clear, and in particular the emergency blue light routes.”

“In addition this helps address abuse of car parking provision, particularly disabled car parking spaces and pick up/drop off areas. This applies to everyone who accesses the site, ie, patients, visitors, staff, contractors and deliveries,” the spokesperson said, adding that as part of its COVID planning, charges in the multi-storey car park were suspended as a gesture of support for staff.

“Car parking charges are aimed at protecting parking spaces at key locations close to hospital entrances to improve patient and visitor access. With the restricted access policy in place on the site and with a range of hospital services scaled back or paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is significantly less traffic accessing the site and therefore there is a significant level of car parking available.”

The spokesperson said the Trust has “a very robust appeals process” for such notices and encouraged anyone “who feels they have just grounds for an appeal to use this process immediately.”