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[RossPhim]

Ah yes , more than one way to skin a cat 

Yep, we're all fleeced! Just in different ways!
  

[D]

"D", you make a good case for parking charges, but I have several issues with what you say.
"Varche" hit it right when he said "OUR" hospital; yesm WE own them, including the car parks, so why should we pay for using what we own? I feel that this should apply to all Municipal car parks - they should be a facility provided free at the point of consumption, as with other services.
Funding is always going to be an issue, especially when all governments try to conceal true costs in stealth taxes; we as motorists know all about those!
Speaking of which, we motorists contribute c.£50,000 Million to the exchequer in taxes and receive approx. 10% of those monies back in facilities (look at the state of the roads), the balance being hived off to fund the NHS, education and pointless wars overseas.

Ron.

Your sense of entitlement is what is wrong with the system today. I had someone tell me that they deserve to be treated "extra special" due to the amount of NI they pay. I suspect if you were to look at the costs of an ITU bed per day, most people wouldnt have paid anywhere near the cost of a routine ITU stay.

By the way, the biggest expense for the treasury is social care, then the NHS. Defence spending is actually tiny compared to social care. Of the top of my head, 18 billion on social care in 2013/14.

Having worked in a developing country NHS, the US and here. I can safely say that I prefer the NHS in the UK. You only realise what you have after it goes missing.

[D]

Just capitalising on the fact that, when you have much more grave things on your mind, you'll just pay it.

Now where would you like your local hospital to find money to do maintenance from?

Possibly from the £5m or so the NHS has spent on art since 2010, or by closing the three NHS Homoeopathic Hospitals we have in the uk, or by not prescribing expensive antibiotics to idiots with viral infections just because they ask for them?

Perhaps if the NHS just stuck to meeting a clinical need, with treatments that we know to work, there would be a bit more money in the system for things patients actually need? 

If only patients were reasonable and listened then your point would be very valid. Unfortunately they don't.

[D]

Just capitalising on the fact that, when you have much more grave things on your mind, you'll just pay it.

I think that is an unfair assumption in most cases.

Yes, you're probably correct, on reflection. My comment probably is more relevant to the cost of parking than the fact that there is a charge for it, which is not unreasonable in itself. I don't see how it need cost any more to run a hospital car park than any other, yet the charges are typically much higher.

It also means that residents in nearby areas get their roads littered with cars which should be in the hospital car park.

Depends really. For eg: St Thomas's in Westminster charge £3 per hour, whilst the nearby private ones charge around £7ph. As a result the car park is always full. It is a pain for staff as the parking is shared. Staff pay around £350 per year to park.

But a relatively isolated hospital with no close by town centre/shopping areas should charge the minimum possible.

Most trusts will cancel charges or fines levied if you are visiting an ill relative. Obviously if you take the p*** and park in a disabled spot, then you deserve the fine.

[Kevin Wood]

Depends really. For eg: St Thomas's in Westminster charge £3 per hour, whilst the nearby private ones charge around £7ph. As a result the car park is always full. It is a pain for staff as the parking is shared. Staff pay around £350 per year to park.

But a relatively isolated hospital with no close by town centre/shopping areas should charge the minimum possible.

Most trusts will cancel charges or fines levied if you are visiting an ill relative. Obviously if you take the p*** and park in a disabled spot, then you deserve the fine.

Those are reasonable charges for central London, of course, especially as decent public transport is available as an alternative. It's the isolated hospitals in the South, without great public transport links, that really take the biscuit IME.

[Kevin Wood]

and.. having picked up my Mum from Guys this time last year, parking is the least of your worries in accessing a central London hospital by car.

[Viral_Jim]

...
If only patients were reasonable and listened then your point would be very valid. Unfortunately they don't.

So doctors have to write a prescription? What total carp!

As a nation we pander far too much to the stupid. Creating super bugs by handing out antibiotics like smarties, giving 2nd liver transplants to alcoholics who destroyed the first one (George best) instead of someone who might actually look after it. Operating on lung cancer patients who don't stop smoking (my mother in law).

We have enough on as a nation paying for the NHS without pandering to those that won't meet them half way. 

And don't get me started on homeopathy, Reikhi healers and all the other snake oil the nhs splashes our tax cash on 

Just think, if we cut out all the sh!t, maybe we could pay our junior doctors half as much as our tube drivers 

[05omegav6]

Just think, if we cut out all the sh!t, maybe we could pay tube drivers half as much

Fixed

[Kevin Wood]

Just think, if we cut out all the sh!t, maybe we could pay tube drivers half as much

Fixed

Oh, but.. Sit and hold a lever all day? Heart surgery's a piece of cake in comparison. 

[Viral_Jim]

Just think, if we cut out all the sh!t, maybe we could pay tube drivers half as much

Fixed

Oh, but.. Sit and hold a lever all day? Heart surgery's a piece of cake in comparison. 

If ever you wanted a prime example of why unionisation is a bad thing....

Beyond pretty much everything that happened in the 70's that is. 

[D]

...
If only patients were reasonable and listened then your point would be very valid. Unfortunately they don't.

So doctors have to write a prescription? What total carp!

As a nation we pander far too much to the stupid. Creating super bugs by handing out antibiotics like smarties, giving 2nd liver transplants to alcoholics who destroyed the first one (George best) instead of someone who might actually look after it. Operating on lung cancer patients who don't stop smoking (my mother in law).

We have enough on as a nation paying for the NHS without pandering to those that won't meet them half way. 

And don't get me started on homeopathy, Reikhi healers and all the other snake oil the nhs splashes our tax cash on 

Just think, if we cut out all the sh!t, maybe we could pay our junior doctors half as much as our tube drivers 

Oh, I dont disagree at all.

Except if I were to even think of voicing an opinion like that, I would have a flood of complaint letters on my desk the very next day. From the very same smoking homeopaths that wont stop drinking.

[Viral_Jim]

Surely the advantage of being in a monopolistic industry means you can neatly file those letters along with all the other junk mail 

[henryd]

I am not talking about city centre hospitals but those where you would have no earthly reason to park there unless visiting.

Like Scarborough hospital or Castle Hill at Cottingham. Scarborough hospital was originally paid for by donations from locals. Then the NHS was formed and the Borough gave the hospital to the NHS. And now they charge you to park in your hospital!

I had a really bad experience yesterday due to having to go out and put more ticket on the car.

I saw what your bad experience was on the other thread,my condolences to you and the rest of your family at this sad time

[05omegav6]

Really shitty timing... a quid bets ten that you wouldn't have left if you had known