No plans to charge for LVH car parking

There has been speculation the LVH would come into line with Antrim and Craigavon which, along with the Belfast hospitals, all have parking charges.

Antrim introduced charges in April, leaving the Lisburn hospital one of the few in greater Belfast which allows free parking.

Money generated from paid car parking on all the sites, which runs into hundreds of thousands of pounds, is directed back into patient care.

A spokesperson for the Northern Trust said: “The new traffic management system at Antrim Hospital was introduced on 27 April 2011. The system has helped to manage the flow of traffic and car parking at the hospital. From 27 April - 30 June car parking net income was £72,675. The income generated from the traffic management scheme is directed into patient care.”

There are exemptions with patients or relatives of cancer patients attending the hospital, renal patients, next of kin of those in ICU, next of kin of seriously sick patients, next of kin of neonatal patients and patients and carers of sick children not facing charges.

A spokesperson for the South Eastern Trust said they would only introduce paid car parking if there was shown to be a need for such a scheme.

She said: “Before any Trust can introduce car parking charges on any site there are a number of prerequisites that need to be addressed such as a period of Public Consultation and Department of Health approval.

“This is based on meeting a number of criteria being met - for example pressure on car parking spaces and misuse of spaces by members of public using it as free all day car parking.”

[email protected]