Trade union slams parking move

NIPSA has been notified by WHSCT that the proposals to increase the number of paid car parking spaces at Altnagelvin by over 305 per cent are to proceed.

The Trust’s decision is aimed at turning the car parking facility into a subsidy of the healthcare provision at the hospital.

In addition to increasing the number of paid spaces, which will included the designated car park for Outpatients, the Trust plan to increase the hourly rate from 60 pence to 70 pence per hour.

This increase amounts to a 16 per cent rise in the hourly rate, at a time when incomes are reducing and family budgets are already under severe strain.

It destroys the ethos on which the Health Service was established, that it should be free at the point of delivery.

Alan Law, Higher Executive Officer, stated: “This decision was released to the media on the eve of the new executive meeting to decide which ministries would be available to each party, it should be condemned as an attack on the ill, the most vulnerable in our community. The Trust has failed to explain how they will support those who can’t afford these charges.”

Alan Law added: “NIPSA will be urging the new Minister for Health to intervene and to prevent the Western Trust from using its patients’ visits to Altnagelvin as a form of income generation. The planned increase in car parking charges will be a genuine burden for the staff who work on site, many of whom are paid little more than the minimum wage.

“The Trust’s decision, to continue to provide free parking for some of the most highly paid staff on the Altnagelvin site, will put into context its claims to protect those who will struggle with this tax on healthcare.”