Parking charges to increase at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston

The cost of parking at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital is set to increase from this Friday, November 23, as the Trust in charge of it faces "significant financial pressures".

The increases, which will average 10p-an-hour, will mean United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) does not have to "compromise or reduce investment in patient services".

Parking for an hour at the Pilgrim, as well as hospitals in Grantham and Lincoln, will go up from £1.60 to £1.70, one to four hours from £3.80 to £4.20, over four hours from £4.50 to £5 and Blue Badge holders will pay £1.90 instead of £1.70.

ULHT says introducing the increase has nothing to do with new technology being rolled out in the car parks.

It says every penny put into the machines for car parking will be retained by it and used to cover the cost of providing car parking and security at its hospitals.

It says funds raised from car parking are used to:

* Provide well maintained, accessible car parks that are conveniently located for patients and visitors. As inflation goes up each year so will the associated costs.

* Make sure that money meant for patient care is not used to cover the costs associated with the provision and maintenance of car parking.

* Invest in additional security across the Trust.

* Ensure the Trust meets the required national standards for the provision of car parking.

Director of estates and facilities at ULHT Paul Boocock said: “The Trust is currently experiencing significant financial pressures and has therefore taken the difficult decision to increase patient and public parking charges at our hospital sites.

“The cost of maintaining ULHT car parks continues to rise, so the decision to raise the prices was taken so we do not have to compromise or reduce investment in patient services.

“The increases are minimal and in line with local government rate rises, and still remain competitive and lower than most other NHS Trusts in the region.

“We are committed to providing the very best care possible and hope our patients and visitors understand the reasoning behind these prices increases.”

The parking increases come in at the same time as the Trust has announced it is making improvements to its car parking provision for staff and patients.

It has teamed up with parking management specialists ParkingEye to introduce a new automatic number plate recognition system at all of its car parks.

The ANPR system looks similar to the CCTV cameras on the high street and captures the number plates of all vehicles entering and exiting the car parks. Information captured by these cameras provides an accurate picture of how long a car stays. The ParkingEye system is already used by many NHS Trusts and is also the preferred provider for three of the largest supermarket companies in the country.

Patients using the car parks should pay at the end of their stay at one of the payment kiosks, using their vehicle registration number, or via the Good2Go service which is a web-based automated payment system. Parking charge notices are generated and issued to those motorists parked inappropriately or who are in breach of the terms and conditions, such as non-payment.

The Trust says the advantage of the ParkingEye ANPR system is that it is highly accurate, fair and transparent. For those who park and realise they don’t have any change for the payment kiosks, the kiosks can also take payments via notes, credit/debit card, contactless and Apple/android pay. They can provide change.

Blue Badge holders will still be eligible for a parking concessions by showing the picture portion of their blue badge to any reception area where they will receive a concessionary barcode to redeem at any payment kiosk. Any patients currently entitled to parking exemptions will continue to be eligible as part of the new system and should give their car registration number to the reception team as they book in for their appointment.