| While the decision to axe charges at Perth will be welcomed by the public, careful management will be required to stop non-hospital users taking advantage of the free parking on offer.
“We have to continue managing the car parking to ensure we have a system that allows us to make priority arrangements for patients and visitors — and charging was one way of managing that,” said Mr Main.
“If we don’t put in another management system the bottom line is that by the time patients turn up for clinics there will be no spaces.
“We have to have something on place to prevent that and ensure a regular turnover of spaces.
“I suppose ‘no change’ is the message at Ninewells,” he went on. Mr Main said the £1.60 charge is considerably less than patients pay in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and well below the £3 cap previously set by the Scottish Government.
Pointing out that price restraints are already part of the contract between the hospital and the firm, he said, “We will be continuing to work with Vinci Park to make sure future increases in rates are minimal.”
Mr Main also pointed out that cancer patients and other regular hospital users already benefit from compassionate parking passes that remove the need for them to pay.
“That has been a very successful scheme,” he said.
“It is a service we are very proud of, and we’ve no intention of changing it.”
It emerged today that Vinci Park is already involved in talks with NHS Tayside over the potential effect of the announcement.
“We are aware of the developments following the press release issued by the Health Secretary,” said a spokeswoman for the company.
“We are currently discussing the implications of this with our client at Ninewells.” |
