Hospital patients and visitors slugged a record $34 million a year in parking fees

THE cost of parking in Sydney hospitals is the single-most complained about issue at the Leukaemia Foundation who say the sick and weak are walking long-distances because they can’t afford the charges.

HOSPITAL patients, visitors and health staff are shelling out a record $34 million a year to park at hospitals with the skyrocketing fees forcing cancer patients to skip appointments or carers to drop off ill relatives and then circle health facilities outside.

In the past financial year the amount raised across the state from car parking grew from $27.6 million $34.7 million, which was returned to local hospitals, the latest NSW Health annual budget figures show.

A comparison of hospital parking fees.

From Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where patients can pay up to $60 a day, to $6.30 for half an hour at Sutherland Hospital, local hospitals are pocketing millions of dollars.

Support groups, such as the Leukaemia Foundation, which has ­reported patients missing medical appointments due to rising parking fees, have described the slug on sick people as “heartless”.

“It is diabolical,” says Anthony Steele, head of support services at the Leukaemia Foundation. “It is the most complained-about issue we get from our patients.

“We get reports of patients who don’t go to all their appointments because of the parking issue, especially bone marrow transplant patients.

“And sick people, weak people, nauseated and fatigued people have to walk long distances because they can’t afford to park at the hospital.”

A NSW Health spokesman said each local area health service was responsible for the money raised. “It is at the discretion of each local health district as to how they allocate the revenue from car parking,” he said.

In the western Sydney area health service alone, which includes Westmead Hospital, cash raised from parking rose from $4.7 million to $6.1 million, while the southwestern Sydney health area’s kitty almost doubled from $3.3 million to $6.9 million.

And parking fines have also stung sick families and health staff. The State Office of Revenue issued $1.3 million infringement notices for parking on hospitals grounds over the past 12 months. Caroline Meehan from charity group Heartfelt Homes, which helps out of town sick families stay in Sydney, said visiting a critically ill relative for one week would cost more than $200 in parking.

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“The cost of parking is way ­beyond what most patient/families can afford, which only adds to ­people’s stress at a very difficult time,” she said.

“My heart goes out to families who cannot afford to pay parking, travel or accommodation costs.

“I see this every day and it is heartbreaking.”

Spinal Cord Injury Australia’s Chris Nicholls said the problem was “horrendous” for people who may have to spend six to 18 months in hospital.

Leukaemia patients can spend up to two months in hospital with no immune system after treatment, and rely upon visitors for emotional support, Mr Steele said.

While hospitals have limited schemes for discount parking, a significant number of patients were ­unaware or not eligible for them and visitors did not qualify, he said. “When long-term patients, after having a chemo regimen, are not turning up for appointments, when they are not getting the optimal treatment ­because of it, then you defeat the purpose and that leads to longer-term complications,” he said.

Health workers, especially shift workers and nurses, were also facing problems parking near work, as multiple local councils have introduced paid parking in local streets.

Heath Services Union boss Gerard Hayes said members working at Westmead were getting booked at Parramatta Park, while the issue has also become a red hot industrial ­debate for nurses at Camperdown’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

The number of spots available to staff there is dropping from 1200 to 600 spaces, despite 2000 staff who currently park there across a 24-hour period.

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association spokeswoman Judith Kiejda said more than 400 nurses and midwives travel over 20km to work at RPAH and were directly affected.

CAR SPOT FOR SICK CHILD A $60-A-DAY HIT

Ian Walker

WITH two children of her own delivered at Randwick’s Sydney Children’s Hospital Lisa McDermott has spent hundreds of dollars in its carpark.

The 41-year-old Mascot mum was back yesterday with her children — Ethan, 5, and Hayden, 3 — to celebrate the birth of her friend’s new baby.

The 2½-hour visit cost her another $26. “It should be cheaper but it’s not,” she said.

After Hayden’s birth she
was visiting the hospital and regularly paying up to $60 a day.

Lisa McDermott with her children Ethan, 6, and Hayden, 3, at Sydney Children's Hospital Randwick / Picture: Dylan Robinson

“He had some complications and I was here regularly for a few hospital stays and I had to pay a fortune,” she said.

“I was here for visits where I didn’t go home all day and then my husband would come after work so the car just sat here.

“If they told me to stay I didn’t have a choice.”

Academic Shane Clifton was charged $26 a day at a parking station at Prince of Wales Hospital for two weeks — despite owning a disabled permit as a quadriplegic.

“A lot of disabled people need to go to hospital and you would think they would have a system that was fair across all the hospitals,” Associate Professor Clifton, from Ingleburn, said

COSTS TRIPLE FOR ‘LUCKY’ NURSE

Jessica Rapana

LAUREN McCoy is one of the “lucky ones” who has a much-coveted spot in the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital staff carpark.

But that inner-city luxury comes at a cost which is about to dramatically ramp up.

“It used to be $24 a fortnight, but they have just increased it a few months ago to $5 a day,” Ms McCoy, a registered nurse, said.

Next month, the privately owned Camperdown carpark is set to hike fees further to $7 a day, but it’s better
than paying $25 a day for visitor parking.

“No one is happy, everyone’s angry about the increase but we are sort of like ‘what can we do?’,” she said.

Registered nurse Lauren McCoy at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital carpark / Picture: Craig Greenhill

For the young mum of one, who drives in from Castle Hill each morning after dropping her son at daycare in Dural, parking is essential.

“I pick up my son from daycare on my way home so if I was to get public transport, it would be a bit hard,” she said.

Parking is so crucial for Ms McCoy, if she could not drive to work she would probably have to change jobs, she said.

Ms McCoy said she had put her name down for the carpark six years ago and had to wait 1½ years to get it.

Now she faces the possibility that it might be pulled out from under her, with staff parking expected to be cut from 2000 spaces to 600 spaces.

“A lot of people ... haven’t been lucky enough to even get (a car park) there, they drive around the street for 45 minutes,” she said.

“I’m one of the lucky ones.”