Drivers parking at QA's A&E department in Portsmouth face some of the highest charges in the country

ALL-day parking charges at QA are among the highest in the country – excluding London – for hospitals with an A&E department.
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The daily charge for parking at A&E at Queen Alexandra Hospital is £18.20 – meaning Portsmouth patients have to pay the fifth-highest A&E parking charges in the country, not counting London.

The highest outside London is Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, where drivers are charged £20 for the day. The most expensive in London is Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, which charges £77. There are several trusts across the country which have free parking at hospitals with A&E departments.

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Charges at the city’s main hospital are not collected or set by Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust but come under the PFI agreement so the hospital does not benefit from any proceeds.

Emergency Department at Queen Alexandra Hospital in CoshamEmergency Department at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham
Emergency Department at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham

Staff car parks are run by the estate management team and are open to out-of-hours staff after 3pm already.

The figures, collected by car leasing company Hippo Leasing, were looked at following reports in December that 95 per cent of A&E units in England failed to hit the four-hour waiting time target.

The trust is currently taking part in pilot scheme so no data was available on A&E waiting times.

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Tom Preston, managing director of Hippo Leasing, said: ‘The rising cost of hospital parking has become a big talking point recently, with politicians weighing into the debate during the election. The news that A&E departments are also failing to meet their four-hour waiting time targets has only added fuel to the fire.

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‘With longer waiting times, many are forced to pay for daily parking charges instead of per hour. Hippo Leasing’s study into parking at A&E centres specifically, highlights the costs patients and visitors can expect if parking on-site in different parts of the country.’

It comes after the Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that from April 2020 people with disabilities, frequent outpatient attenders, parents of sick children staying overnight and staff working night shifts will not have to pay for NHS car parking.

The trust confirmed meetings were ongoing to see how this applied to the car parks run under the PFI agreement.

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Mark Orchard, chief financial officer at PHT, said: ‘Providing an excellent patient experience is a key priority for the trust.

‘While it is too early to confirm how this policy will affect each of our sites specifically, we welcome any government initiatives which make it easier for patients to access our services.’

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