Anger as hospital car park charge hits €4

Parking charges have once again increased at Our Lady"s Hospital, Navan, and visitors must now pay €4 to park in the car park there. The charge had been €2 for some time but this rose to €3 last year and the charge was recently hiked again to €4. A spokesperson for the HSE confirmed the increase and said the 'funds raised are used to support the operation and day-to-day running costs of the hospital'. The move has been criticised by local election candidates Suzanne Jamal and Cllr Ray Butler. Ms Jamal said: 'As if the €100 charge of attendance in A&E was not enough, patients and their relatives of Our Lady"s Hospital, Navan, are hit again with an increase in car park charges which has been increased twice in a one-year period. There are hundreds of patients who have to attend warfarin clinics every week and then there are diabetics and people with other chronic illnesses who have to attend the hospital clinics on a regular basis and are now going to have to bear the brunt of these charges.' Ms Jamal also commented that there is already a significant number of cars parked on the road outside the hospital and that this is likely to increase with the parking fee hike. 'I am not surprised by this Ryanair-type attitude of the HSE; the next step we will see is a 50 cent charge for using the toilet facilities in the hospital. The HSE follows the budget airline examples of additional charges, but they do not learn how to reduce wastage and cut unnecessary expenses, which can be achieved without compromising the quality of care for the patients. I will be contacting the HSE to demand that they reverse this charge,' said Ms Jamal. Cllr Butler is also angry about the increase and said it is particularly unfair on people who might only be calling to drop something to a relative and parking for 10 minutes and for people who might need to call to visit a patient once or twice a day. He commented that many visitors might only be visiting for a half an hour and that a €4 charge is extortionate.