Australian hospital parking fees are now costing some families more than their weekly rent

THE sickest patients and their families are paying over $100m a year in hospital parking fees with some unable to afford to visit relatives.

THE sickest patients and their families are paying over $100 million a year in hospital parking fees with some unable to afford to visit sick and dying relatives.

The fees, which can be charged more than once per day if families make more than a single visit to the hospital, are striking at the heart of Australia’s promise of a free public hospital system.

Some families have reported they are spending more on parking than they are on rent if they have a sick relative they need to visit every day.

The Consumer’s Health Forum chief Leanne Wells says exorbitant parking fees are “distressing” and an extra stress on families trying to care for sick loved ones.

A News Corp investigation has found the revenue raised from hospital parking fees in NSW has soared by 37 per cent to $38.7 million in the last three years, twelve times the rate of inflation over the same period.

In Melbourne where hospital parking revenue is $66 million a year the state government has asked hospitals to review the fees and put in place concessional arrangements but they are still inadequate.

The Sydney Eye Hospital has emerged as the facility with the highest parking charges in the country at $64 for six hours or more.

The fees can cost families hundreds of dollars a week and up to $3,000 a year during the course of a lengthy chronic illness.

Gidon Goodman during a hospital stay. He is currently running an online petition to lower the costs of parking at hospitals. Picture: Supplied

News Corp has heard from people who say they missed being able to visit hospital with a dying loved one, or had to leave a child alone in hospital because they couldn’t afford parking.

One 90 year old woman, Shirley Clymer, had to walk one kilometre using a walking frame to visit her dying husband in hospital because she couldn’t afford to park near the hospital.

Patients have told a Change.org petition on hospital parking they have had to choose between eating or paying parking fees.

The exorbitant parking fees have created an uber style market with some people living nearby major hospitals advertising online they will rent their carports for $297 per month.

Today News Corp begins a campaign to get the Federal Government to set a cap on parking fees and fund a subsidy for sick people who can’t afford their parking bills.

The health system caps the annual amount a person has to spend on medicine ($372 for pensioners, $1,475 for general patients).

And there is a Medicare Safety Net limiting out of pocket expenses for doctors fees after patients spend over $647 if they are pensioners or families on Family Tax Benefit.

News Corp wants the federal government to set a similar limit on parking fees.

Patients and their families should pay no more than $10 a day for parking or $30 a week if they are frequent hospital visitors. Pensioners and concession card holders should be able to park for free.

Thirteen year old Sydney boy Gidon Goodman calculates his parents have paid $10,000 in parking fees while getting treatment for his rare blood disorder that requires fortnightly infusions provided at the Sydney Children’s Hospital.

He has started a petition calling for the fees to be reduced that has over 45,000 signatures change.org/hospitalparking

Shirley Clymer, who is recovering from breast cancer. She had to walk one kilometre to get to Dandenong Hospital when her husband was dying because she couldn't afford the parking fees. Picture: Jason Sammon

Perth teen Nathan Garcia who was born with half a heart is also running a petition after his mum got a $1,000 parking fine when he was raced to emergency last month.

The fee was eventually waived after a public outcry.

Nathan Elvery the Campaigns Director of Change.org Australia says it has taken this brave teenager to speak up on this issue to rally Australians.

“Thousands are signing his petition for state politicians to act so that patients don’t have to choose between health and debt. Online tools like Change.org give a voice to those who’d often be overlooked, but a story like Gidon’s is impossible to ignore,” he said.

The Consumer’s Health Forum is backing News Corp’s campaign.

“For hospital patients and their relatives wanting to visit them, the challenge of finding and paying for parking can be distressing,” Consumer’s Health Forum chief Leanne Wells said.

“Concession card holders requiring outpatient care or visiting dear ones should not be expected to pay for parking. Hospitals should consider ways to make parking less expensive for people in these circumstances, such as a simple voucher system.

“Having family and friends around when you are very unwell or after major surgery is so important to people’s wellbeing and recovery. Hospitals need to think about the steps they can take to improving access to hospital parking,” she said.

In NSW, Victoria and Queensland each Local Health District is responsible for determining car parking fees at public hospital car parks.

Concession parking rates are available at hospitals for eligible patients who meet criteria developed by each separate health district but they are not uniform.

For example parents and carers of patients at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick with a Centrelink Pension card in the name of the parent/carer are eligible for concession car parking — $28 for five days.

At Royal North Shore Hospital cancer patients and those with a pension card can get a concessional parking rate of $6 per day.

Inside the new Peter Mac Hospital in Melbourne. Picture: Kris Reichl

In Melbourne the Peter Mac offers a discount $10 for pensioners and health care card holders. Patients or carers attending over 3 or more days a week can get a concession rate of $10.

The Royal Children’s hospital has a discount rate of $56 for seven days.

The Women’s Hospital offers a discount rate of $77 a week allowing multiple entries for seven days if partner patient staying overnight.

Health Minister Sussan Ley says hospitals are administered by the States and car parking issues outlined by News Corp are clearly their responsibility and should be addressed to them.

“Australia is a federation with a division of responsibilities and it would not be rational, feasible or realistic for the Commonwealth to make a takeover of hospital car parking, which clearly is a local issue and should remain so,” a spokesman for the minster said.

“We wish you well in your campaign and hopefully it is directed to the right level of government to address this issue,” he said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King says parking fees are a major problem for people who visit hospital frequently.

“Going to hospital can be stressful enough, let alone having to find a park and being hit with soaring parking fees — especially if someone is visiting the hospital frequently. I encourage all levels of Government to work together to investigate solutions to this growing issue.” Ms King said.

PATIENT STORIES OF BILL SHOCK

Thirteen year old Gidon Goodman reckons his family has shelled out over $10,000 in parking fees while he received treatment for his rare illness.

He’s so outraged by the bills he has started a change.org petition to encourage health ministers to fix the problem.

Gidon suffers from a rare blood disorder and has been a hospital patient since the age of three months and requires infusion of medicine every two weeks to control his symptoms.

“Over that time the parking prices have been going up crazily,” he says.

It used to be $16 for two hours plus, now it’s $28 for 2.5 hours plus and I’m in hospital for two to three hours depending on the treatment,” he says.

“The parking prices went up again a month ago and that motivated me to set up a petition, I know it’s an issue, people can’t believe the fees,” he says.

“It’s something that needs to be tackled and I want to try and tackle it,” he says.

Gidon Goodman, who has started a petition protesting hospital parking fees. He is pictured at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Sydney. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Carli Skurnik who’s 23 month old son Jake has had four major surgeries since the day he was born says she paid over $300 a week in parking fees while her son was in hospital.

That $300 a week fee is the “ discount fee” at the car park near the Randwick Children’s Hospital which charges $9.20 an hour and $28 for two hours or more.

Ms Skurnik describes the charges as “highway robbery”.

Jake was born with a hole in his heart and has had three open heart surgeries.

“He’s had cardiac arrests and died on me twice,” says Carli.

Carli says her son was so ill she wanted to be with him as soon as he woke at 6am in the morning and she left late at night so she had no choice but to pay the $300 charge at the hospital car park.

“As a child in hospital everything was free except the parking,” she said.

Some parents driving in from places like Orange spend hours looking for parking on the street to cut costs, she says.

“These mums are so stressed, every two hours they have to leave their children and run out and find a new parking spot and have to ask other parents to look after their children in ICU,” she says.

Carli Skurnik and her two year old son Jake. He had numerous heart operations. Picture: Cameron Richardson

Neil Johnston told the Change.org petition hospital parking cost him $28 a day.

“I had to quickly make the decision on whether I saw my sick and dying newborn son that day or eat that night. Due to my wife being off work and only one wage coming in.”

Robyn Hoogenvest from NSW says her husband has blood cancer and is about to be admitted for the third time for a period of 3 weeks or more to Westmead hospital.

“Parking is $17 per day and I will be paying over $100 per week. My husband is unable to work and we are living off my part time job. The parking is unaffordable.”

Sam Ferrara, from the NSW South Coast told Change.org her daughter requires regular treatment at Sydney Children’s Hospital for a chronic condition.

“We travel from Far South Coast NSW for her treatment and find the cost of parking crippling. We often have to attend several appointments in a single day, taking many hours.”

Clare Dixon told the petition she was a mother of a child with a chronic disease who visits the hospital regularly, the parking is exorbitant. “It will have cost us over $1000 so far this year.- and that’s using the “discount”. It’s just not fair.”

Lisa Miller with her daughter Holly, 15, who’ve also been affected by high hospital parking costs. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Ninety year old age pensioner Shirley Clymer from Victoria had to walk one kilometre using her walking frame to get to the Dandenong Hospital when her husband Bob was dying of Alzheimer’s disease because she couldn’t afford the parking fees.

“I’m living in an aged care facility, I’m 90, paying daily care rates and running a car and paying for private health insurance, I have no money for parking fees,” she says.

Bob has since passed away but Mrs Clymer now has breast cancer and also has a sick daughter and faces a new round of parking fees to get her own treatment.

“When people are dying they need their dear ones sitting by them day and night and the parking fees are dreadful when they are already under enormous stress,” she says.

“I think the government should provide the parking for free,” she says.

Victorian Jill Edwards told the Change.org petition she her daughter was in hospital for 18 months continually, often in ICU and critically ill before she passed away.

“We paid up to $30 daily to park in a hospital car park as no other parking available. We were often not able to work and were financially crippled by the costs. It is above appalling and incomprehensible,” she says.

NEWS CORP HOSPITAL PARKING CAMPAIGN

What patients and their families need:

* National safety net that limits how much patients and their families spend on public hospital parking fees every year.

* The government has a safety net for prescriptions and medical fees. It should establish a similar safety net for parking, limiting expenses to free for aged pensioners and $10 a day and $30 a week for frequent users.