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PARENTS OF SICK children attending Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin contributed to the hospital raising over €460,000 in car-park income last year.
According to figures provided by the HSE to Co Clare independent TD Dr Michael Harty the total amount generated by the children’s hospital at Crumlin last year totalled €464,373.
The €464,373 is part of €19.25m in parking charges generated by hospitals across the country last year.
The final figure will be even higher as the HSE couldn’t provide car-park income from Galway University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital and Letterkenny University Hospital due to commercial sensitivity reasons arising from a tendering process.
The hospital with the highest car-parking income in the country is Cork University Hospital which generated €3.1m last year.
The HSE reply to Deputy Harty states that the income from car parking charges at Cork University Hospital “forms an integral part of the hospital’s budgetary policy and the net proceeds is invested back into the hospital for the provision of services”.
Budget
A note related to the €464,373 generated at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital makes a similar point stating that “car parking income less related expenses forms part of the overall operational budget of the hospital”.
Those parking at Our Lady’s Children’s car park are charged €3.20 for the first hour and €5 for the next two hours. The hospital employs an external management company to manage car-parking and all cars parked unofficially throughout the car-park will be clamped with a release fee applicable.
Temple Street Children’s University Hospital in Dublin has no car-park and as a result raises no car-parking income.
Currently, the Irish Cancer Society is calling for free or subsidised parking for all cancer patients receiving treatment.
The second highest amount generated from car-parking is at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin where €2.79m was raised last year and a note states that the income from car-parking at that hospital campus “is ring-fenced to fund future car-park loan repayments, repairs and maintenance”.
The third most lucrative car-park last year was the car-park serving St James’s Hospital where €2.4m was generated in income last year with the HSE stating that “this income contributes to the general running costs of this hospital”.
Three other hospital car-parks earned more than €1m last year – Tallaght Hospital – €1.2m; Beaumont Hospital – €1.1m; and University Hospital Waterford – €1.5m.
Trolleys
The A&E unit at University Hospital Limerick has consistently had amongst the highest number of patients waiting on trolleys during the trolley crisis and last year, the hospital raised €907,195 from car-park income.
The HSE states that “car park income is classed as general revenue and used to support the operational costs of the hospital”.
However, a number of other hospitals in the Midwest don’t have any parking charges including Ennis, Nenagh, Croom and the University Maternity Hospital in Limerick.
The figures show that University Hospital Kerry raised €782,923; Wexford General Hospital – €716,527; Connolly Hospital – €685,113; St Luke’s General Hospital – €497,887; Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda – €497,861; Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore – €400,302; Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise- €322,017; South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital – €320,774; Mayo University Hospital – €325,687; and Mullingar Regional Hospital – €301,513.
General Manager at the HSE’s Acute Hospitals Division, Trina Doran said that paid parking was introduced in many hospitals over the past decade.
She said: “Car park charges were introduced as part of a series of measures to ensure that the cost of the provision of such services was not taken from the hospital’s operating budget.”
She added: “The income generated from paid parking is an important stream of funding to hospitals to ensure continued provision of health services.”
In a written Dáil reply to Róisin Shortall on the issue, Minister for Health, Simon Harris said: “Hospitals which charge parking fees are very cognisant of the financial implications of parking costs for patients and their families particularly those with long-term illnesses.”
He said: “Consequently hospitals have introduced a maximum daily fixed parking charge, thus capping this expense. While there is no national HSE policy governing car park charges, the HSE advises that it keeps hospital parking charges under review.”
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Pure disgrace, you shouldn’t have to pay to park at a hospital
@Declan Moran: would be abused then
@Declan Moran: I agree. Talk about hitting people when they are at a low point in their lives :-(
@Declan Moran: Always amazes me. Everyone talks about funding hospitals properly & that it’s a disgrace that x,y & z isn’t funded. Yet ask them to put a few shillings into a car park meter to actually contribute funds directly to the hospital and they’re indignant. Hypocrites. Symptomatic of so many in Ireland. Everything should be free but someone else should pay for it.
@Paul: how would it be abused! People attending the hospital as a patient or visitor would park there! What do think would happen? unless its for a hospital visit then no parking. There are ways around that
@@angrymanwithissues: you are an angry man with major issues! Go Have a lie down
@Mark Gerard Lochlain: I have a son (9) with a chronic illness (renal) and often has stages of a few weeks at a time and the dark parking costs really do add up, sometimes you cannot even avail if the, already extortionate, daily rate, because you may have to leave on school runs for your other children. There is also the issue of not being able to get a space at Crumlin so you are forced to park on the surrounding streets and on more than one occasion I have returned to aggressive notes from local residents, you cannot win. I can understand a small charge being made, but this is akin to robbery.
@Mark Gerard Lochlain: because others will be leaving their car there all day while they head off to work or into town etc. . The car parks have to charge something .if you are attending the hospital for treatment though .. I think there should be a free pass for a certain length of time..
I have spent many years travelling across Ireland to visit hospitals for work. Parking can be a nightmare in most, i.e. Finding a space. If they were free, people will be very slow to move their cars within a certain time. If they delayed by even 10% more, then hospitals will need to provide 10% more spaces. Not going to happen. I agree the charges are too high but when you are only visiting a few times a year, it’s not too bad. For those that have to visit a lot, then there should be discounts or free parking. Maybe just make the first hour free and charge a higher price for subsequent hours.
@Aidan O’Leary: it would be a simple enough to have a nominated car reg for each patient and a nominated guest of required even if a small fee per day is applied.
@@angrymanwithissues: if it was going to the hospitals it would not be as bad but it’s private companies running these car parks. Also there should be a set maximum charge for children as their parents have to/want to be there. Obviously it is not fair if their child is in for weeks and they have to pay €10 plus a day. There has to be a fairer way of doing it ensuring the hospital gets the most revenue possible and patients aren’t fleeced. It’s not by choice people are their but necessity!!
All about profit. Profits,money, profits,money more more more but we do care about you.as long as we can charge you
@marty johnbann:
That’s the public sector way. Council car parks, slap down the double yellows paint white boxes and install a machine. Fines, towing companies, slap on wrist, meanwhile the cash keeps coming in. It’s a very big cash cow for government councils semi sates and every other public sector. Meanwhile civil servants get free parking. The lefties and socialists won’t change it if they ever get into power. Dublin city council prime example.
The generic crap that the public service get to spout is a disgrace and not good enough. All we hear is, cannot comment on individual cases, or cannot divulge sensitive information. A cop out and way to hide behind procedure. Every hospital should give a full break down of where the profits from car parks have gone. I wouldn’t be suprised if it goes into consultants pockets.
I’ve had a relative clamped whilst visiting their dying parent . Confronted security at the hospital and more or less told to “f ” off.
Lovely attitude .
@Deirdre D’Arcy Murphy: Why were they clamped?
@Deirdre D’Arcy Murphy: I think there is one spot at the Mater hospital out on the main road .i believe your story ,but in fairness to the porter in the hospital he was apologetic.
@Martin Flood: I would assume they had no parking ticket or they went over the time ..
@Joe Keogh: do I know u ? Or are u guessing ?
@Suzie Sunshine: both wrong. Called in as parent dying rapidly. Told security and car clamped straight away because it wasn’t in the car park.
Hospital Directors getting cushy with big pharma, making financial deals to buy their more expensive drugs over equally effective generics through gifts and brown envelope deals. (Admittedly much less than the ‘good old days’)
Forcing patients with health insurance to sign for private over public treatment with no difference in the quality of care.
The bloated HSE with a higher admin:frontline staff ratio than most, if not all OECD countries. Staff working half hours, huge amount of sick days, tick boxes to justify their position.
Then frontline staff are forced to work unpaid overtime through guilt understaffing, despite enormously bloated salaries of HSE managers who do sweet fa
@George Beckett: Hospital board of directors should be held accountable. Fire people for once!
@George Beckett: Almost 40% of the country on the medical card …. just for balance of course.
@lavbeer: bloody disgrace and I don’t want to be paying for them. Wasters.
I was up in Daisy Hill hospital in Newry recently, for my son to have an operation. They couldn’t do enough to help, gave me a voucher for parking for the day. Brilliant system, anyone with a appointment/surgery gets a voucher.
@Emma Counihan: Security in Crumlin were very understanding when I had to spend time with my son in PICU there. They gave me parking passes as required, as they recognised that I had other things to worry about.
@Declan Moran: There needs to be some mechanism to control the parking though, something like reclaiming the fee back maybe
@Joe Conlon: yes a good idea Joe. I just don’t think people should have to pay when going to visit a sick relative/friend. I think your point too Paul, perhaps clamping down on abusers more heavily would sort it out
This has to be the sickest tax ever bestowed on tax payers in this country !
@Catherine Mc: Catherine did you see last week I think a proposal to charge for parking at some CEMETERIES in Dublin. If we thought charging to see the sick was bad (and it is) the slippery slope to charging people to visit their dead is looming. I’d say normally God forgive whoever dreamt up these money rackets but a) they don’t deserve forgiveness and b) they only worship money so God has no place in their world. Shameful and disgusting but not out of place in laughingly titled ‘Holy Ireland’
@Gerry Carroll:
Yes, I read that nothing is sacred anymore in this country, personally I can’t imagine anyone parking in a hospital or at a cemetery for the fun of it, if anything most of us try to steer clear of such places. If it is deemed such a problem, employ clampers to crack down on the imaginary abusers.
@Gerry Carroll: park down the road from the cemetery so. Money is needed to pay for maintenance. A per grave annual charge wouldn’t be the best to be fair as collecting would be a nightmare. And if it is near a bus or train stop the auld Irish dishonesty would kick in. Am I wrong?
People are chased by fees everywhere they go once they turn the key in their ignition. The one place they can do without that hassle is visiting family, ill in hospital. In this digital age and some of that 3 odd mill CUH collected, I’m sure a seamless less stressful system could be installed. But change in this country is not to be tolerated by the establishment and vested interests, to heck with Joe public.
Not to mind, finding a space can be deeply stressful in itself, and the condition of some of these parking lots is a feckin disgrace.
I bring a sick relative to tallaght hospital regularly. Last week with 3 different appointments they paid €25 in parking fees. Even with a disability pass there’s very little parking other than the car park. Even a discount if you prove you’re a patient would help so many people
@shaz: I’m afraid not They even arrange for the staff to be clamped I hate to tell you
Another slush fund
Who spends this cash?????
And it all goes to Europarks in Germany
@Shaun Gallagher: No it doesn’t. ParkRite run Tallaght & St. James’ Car Park.
@Peter: fair enough Peter. Our 2 hospitals here in the NW anyway that’s were the money goes
It’s a disgusting practice for patients or visitors to have to pay for parking at hospitals in our country, in essence it’s a tax on the sick and vulnerable. Parking contracts are farmed out to parking firms to separate the hospital management from the mercenary abuse of the sick whilst charging a premium price for the right to park close to necessary health treatment.
To be fair, some time ago St Vincents Hospital Dublin used to charged £1.00 for entry to their car park (though just a surface car park at the time) but this cheap parking rate was being completely abused by south county Dublin commuters who would drive to St Vincents, park for the day for £1.00 then commute to the city centre by bus or DART thus leaving no parking space for those needing access to the hospital, this was an equally difficult situation as high parking fee’s.
Now at St. Vincents car parking is a lucrative stream of income which is equivalent to bottom trawling, taking no account of individuals needs whether age,strength, frailty, illness, wellness or any of the variables that bring us to hospitals. The irony of hospital parking terms and conditions render the H.S.E. Patient Charter a joke.
I’m not averse to hospital parking charges however it wouldn’t take the problem solving skills of Archimedes or James Clerk Maxwell to devise a scheme that would allow those individuals entitled to free car parking to receive it. I suppose it’s simply an issue of motivation on behalf of the hospital management’s.
In the meanwhile though, I would suggest to HSE management the issuing to each hospital car park customer a jar of Vaseline to save the pain of the rooting that the exorbitant charges cause.
the HSE is well funded but the money is wasted on wages and managers, its simple another stealth tax along with the A&E charges, i ask this guy who was pushing for the new childrens hospital would parents be paying charges yes he said only 100 parking spaces will be allocated to parents who have really sick children, otherwise he said us public transport! even if the HSE got all the budgets they want they would still screw the patients with charges!
It wouldn’t be so bad if the money from the car parks was being used to upgrade equipment and the hospital or pay for extra nurses
This car parking charges is a pure scandal. I have to visit hospitals quiet often over the last 30 years. I also believe that people who have their disable parking permit should now have these charges returned to them in view there is never parking spaces especially for people with their permits.
St James’ Car Park does do very good rates for families visiting very ill long term patients.
Tail gate the car in front of you when exiting. Free Parking. Works every time
I have no problem with paying a small charge for parking in a hospital but recently my father was in st Vincent’s for nearly 5 wks . One wk alone I spent €50 on parking that was without whatever my brothers spent . I was also paying €70 a wk on petrol . Thank god it was only for 5 wks but for families of long term sick relatives to have to pay €50 a wk or even the maximum of €84 it’s an absolute disgrace at a time when you’re worrying enough without having the stress of extra financial pressure.
There must be a direct link between waiting times and parking revenue … the more people are waiting on trolleys, the more revenue we generate!
Portuncula hospital ballinasloe best for parking €1 for as long as possible
There is no justice in this kip. We can’t even afford to see our sick without being screwed. Ireland what a hole/.
It’s been a long-standing political tool to hide behind stealth taxes that aren’t readily linked to government and thus avoids any negative ‘blame’. Chronic mismanagement and underfunding of health despite the biggest budget allocation of all along with Social welfare leaves hospitals scratching around to make up the shortfall.
Remember the levy that was supposedly a government grab from insurance companies? Good idea except the insurance companies just passed it straight into their customers and thus Joe public got stiffed again. Same with hospital car park charges, the little guy has
to turf out money that the government isn’t.
Harris hasn’t a clue… the hospitals are not conscious of the cost to patients, parents and visitors!! Charging parents and family support of sick & dying child cancer patients is quite frankly disgusting!!
This explains the james street Decision.
What are the parking fees used for? Hospitals say they go toward the general running costs does this mean they subsidise the salaries paid to hospital consultants???
“Net income” “Income less expenses” goes into hospital services.
What is the distribution of gross income & what are the expense elements??
What are the lease costs, royalties, dividends paid to the investors, & who are these investors?
Do they include members of the private practice medical fraternity bleeding yet more from a captive clientele attending the hospitals?
Does the HSE collect parking fees from the thousands of staff car slots provided, & if not does revenue collect BIK tax on this benefit?
It cannot be just & equitable that consultants being paid 6 figure state salaries, and/or charging enormous fees, have free parking, yet the patients & their worried families are screwed for parking.
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