HOSPITAL bosses blamed huge increases in takings from car parks this year on the return to face-to-face appointments after Covid, and the end of free staff parking. 

Morecambe Bay Trust (UHMBT) received £865,538 from visitor/patient car parks and £270,555 from staff car parks in 2022/23. This is a 118 per cent increase for visitor/patient car parks on 2021/22, which was £270,555, and a nearly ten-fold increase for staff car parks, which was £28,722. 

This is according to the latest NHS Estates Returns Information Collection, which is compiled annually by NHS England to keep a record of expenditure and income of assets across the trusts. 

UHMBT operates Furness General in Barrow, Westmorland General in Kendal and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. The chief operating officer Scott Mclean said that staff started paying for parking again after a period of it being free in June 2022. 

However, the current car parking model has received criticism. 

Former councillor Pat Bell lives in Kendal and describes herself as 'passionate' on the subject of staff parking charges because she has friends who work in Westmorland General. 

She said: "I think one of the big issues is that staff don't get free parking. If we want functioning hospitals they have to serve the staff. If it's beyond a threshold I can understand that. Junior members of staff should not have to pay for car parking."

Ms Bell, who is still an active figure in local Conservative politics, advocated a booking system where a patient scheduled for a three-hour appointment is given that time in the car park. She said that visitors should pay. 

"It's unfair to be charging essentials," the South Lakes MP Tim Farron said. 

"The longer you need to spend in outpatients the more you will have to pay, that feels unfair.

"I do understand the financial situation." Mr Farron said that the NHS does not receive enough funding from the government to cover these costs. 

"In the end, the real issue is the funding that they do not have from government." 

Mr Mclean said: "Our top priority is always to keep our patients safe, so the main reason for the disparity in the figures from 2021/22 compared to those of 2022/23 is that we were taking measures to protect our patients, colleagues and the public from Covid-19. 

"In 2021/22, there was free parking for colleagues for much of the time, so this meant there was less money coming in from staff paying for parking permits and car parking on our sites. Our staff started having to pay for parking again in June 2022.  

"A number of appointments needed to be conducted over the phone and online to protect everyone, which also meant our car parks were used less and a reduced amount of money was generated by our car parks. 

“There have been no increases in parking costs to patients, visitors or staff at our trust for several years. Our Trust’s stance is that parking should not be seen as an income and is priced to cover costs such as car park administration, management, security including CCTV, gritting and maintenance. We need to ensure our car parks are maintained for our patients, their visitors and our staff."