Royal Adelaide Hospital rakes in more than $7 million in parking fees

Parking fees at a new Adelaide hospital are putting pressure on patients and their families, as the hospital rakes in millions in revenue.

The new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) is cashing in on patients and their families with its hefty parking fees.

It is one of Australia’s newest hospitals, having opened at the end of 2017, and in just 12 months it has raked in millions of dollars from patents and visitors paying for parking.

The hospital collected more than $3.6 million in revenue just from visitors, according to 7 News.

When the cost of staff parking was added in, the revenue added up to more than $7 million.

Unlike other hospitals that offer the first two hours of parking free, the Royal Adelaide Hospital charges visitors as soon as they enter the carpark.

The hospital is earning revenue of more than $3 million for parking fees from visitors alone. Picture: David Mariuz/AAP

The first hour costs $4, up to two hours is $7, three hours is $14, four hours is $18 and up to five hours is $20. Anything after that is $24, which is the daily maximum.

People also have the option to apply for a long-stay pass, which costs $38 a week.

The weekly pass used to cost $64 but decreased significantly after a pledge from the elected government.

SA Health spokeswoman Elke Kropf told 7 News although it was “a lot of money”, the Royal Adelaide had 1000 more parking spaces than other hospitals.

“It is a lot of money but, as people probably appreciate, hospitals are very busy places,” she said.

“The revenue’s used in a number of ways; one is the maintenance of the carpark on site, line-marking, additional signage and then any remaining revenue is invested in health services.”

Visitors are paying up to $24 a day for parking. Picture: 7 News

The hospital’s Facebook page has a number of negative reviews relating to the high parking rates.

Despite the RAH apparently having more parking spaces than other hospitals in the area, many reviews claimed finding a park at the hospital was difficult.

“The only negative is carparking at the RAH. Having done 8 laps around taking 20 minutes we couldn’t get a car park in the hospital, so had to pay $4.00 just to exit. Presumably the long line of cars behind us had to do the same thing,” one person wrote.

“Waited 2 years for an outpatient procedure, arrive for my appointment to find it was cancelled the day before with no attempt to contact me. Couldn't tell me why it was cancelled. Then charged $4 carparking by the time I ran back to my car,” another said.