Gosford Hospital parking: what you will pay
A NSW hospital’s new multistorey car park will open early next year but users could be in for a rude shock when they find out how much they have to pay.
Exclusive: Visitors and patients at Gosford Hospital will be in for a rude shock when they use the new $35.5 million multistorey car park with fees skyrocketing as much as 458 per cent.
The alarming new fees have been revealed in an email sent to staff, which show the cost of parking at the hospital for 15 minutes to an hour going from the current rate of $1.20 to $6.70 when the new car park opens early next year — an increase of 458 per cent.
Staff will also be slugged with a massive increase from $27.50 a fortnight they pay out of their pre-tax salaries — or $13.75 a week — to $23.20 a week.
This represents an increase of 68.7 per cent or $9.45 extra a week.
One nurse told the Express Advocate the new parking fees treated Gosford like a major Sydney hospital despite it not having the same 24-hour catheterization laboratory or neurosurgical surgery services as Royal North Shore Hospital.
“The public who access our services are not well off and are mainly pensioners — large ageing population — and the money for carparking is ridiculous,” she said.
Even those eligible patients and their carers, who require regular or long-term hospitalisation or treatment, will be hit in the hip pocket.
Currently concessional parking is free at Gosford Hospital but when the new car park opens eligible patients and their carers will only get the first three hours free.
Otherwise they will be charged $5.50 for a single visit ticket, which entitles them to one entry and one exit only.
Their two other options include a three-day unlimited entry/exit ticket for $11.10 or a seven-day ticket for $22.20.
Construction of the six-storey car park reached its highest point last month and will boast 805 spaces.
However the email to hospital staff said the car park would only initially provide 679 spaces and will be managed by an external operator, Secure Parking, which will have an office onsite.
Announcing the car park’s “topping out” last month Terrigal State Liberal MP Adam Crouch said it would be fully complete by early 2019.
“Special features of the new car park will include electronic messaging signs to let drivers know the number of spaces available — a feature that will also be fitted to the existing multistorey (car park),” he said.
A spokeswoman for Gosford Hospital said the new car park would initially provide 679 new spaces and would expand to 805 when the Central Coast Medical School and Research
Institute was built.
“Fees will be in line with NSW Health Hospital Car Parking Fees Policy which was
developed in consultation with union representatives,” she said.
“The policy aims to introduce consistent parking fees across NSW public hospital sites
and supports the sustainable funding, construction and operation of new hospital car
parks.”
Mr Crouch’s office was contacted for comment about the increased parking costs on Tuesday but failed to respond.
Current multistorey car park fees:
0-1hr $1.20
1-2hr $2.30
2-3hr $3.50
3-4hr $4.60
Concessional carparking: Free
Staff parking $27.50 a fortnight pre-tax
New multistorey parking fees:
0-15min Free
15min-1hr $6.70
1-2hr $9.90
2-3hr $13.30
3-4hr $15.50
4-5hr $17.80
5-max daily rate $19.90
Concessional carparking: 0-3hr Free
1 exit only $5.50
3-day multi entry/exit $11.10
7-day multi entry/exit $22.20
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