Judging by the emails I receive residents are clearly angry at parking arrangements at Macclesfield General Hospital. Even blue badge holders are inflamed at the treatment they receive from Parking Eye who manage parking charges.
One disabled patient was left with fines totalling £210 after visits to the hospital. As Parking Eye's revenue comes entirely from fines they have a strong incentive to ensure total compliance.
Having developed or sold-off every spare piece of land parking spaces around the hospital are at a premium.
No one is suggesting exploitation but the system employed is sufficient to ensure parking charges and fines are maximised at every opportunity.
Visitors are electronically monitored the moment they arrive and charged even if they sit in their vehicle waiting for a patient. It's an unforgiving system that penalises not town centre revellers or lazy motorists but people at their most vulnerable.
With few exceptions those arriving at hospital are undera degree of stress and preoccupation. I don't recall ever making a relaxed visit to a hospital. I was either attending for some extremely unpleasant procedure or visiting a sick loved one. Either way my mental facilities were somewhat impaired.
It may not be against the law to fine vulnerable patients and visitors for failing to comply with an unforgiving electronic parking system but is it the way for hospital management to win the hearts and minds of the community they serve?
I doubt you will find John Lewis adopting the same system. They value their reputation and good relationships.
Not long ago residents and staff of Macclesfield General organised a massive 50,000-signature petition to help save the hospital from departmental closures. You can't buy that kind of loyalty and you certainly don't reward it by alienating those you may rely on to support you in the future.
MGH do enjoy good relationships with local residents and, of course, they are under financial pressure but exploiting vulnerable visitors at times of stress isn't the way to balance their budget.
From time to time senior management of organisations make blunders: Remember the plan to replace the name of Royal Mail with Consignia or Lady Thatcher's reaction to BA's plan to decorate their fleet with incomprehensible 'art'?
Those plans were scrapped by management after realising they had misjudged the situation.
Management at Macclesfield General may want to do likewise.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of wilmslow.co.uk.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Anyone feeling unfairly done by should contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service at the hospital and instruct/request them to cancel the "parking charge". Otherwise appeal to Parking Eye, who will reject the appeal, and then appeal to the independent body, POPLA, through whom you can win if you use the right arguments.
Finally, Parking Eye will otherwise pursue this through the civil courts, so never ignore anything from them. However their business model depends on scaring "transgressors" to make them pay, or making them pay because they can't be bothered to appeal/object. It's a murky business alright, and the hospital will try and distance itself from it as much as possible.
perhaps we should fund hospitals correctly or introduce private health care.....shock horror but it's not an bottomless pit!
maybe the hospital should become more efficient (thus not having to resort to selling off assets to balance the books).
contributors pontificate far too much, their idealistic blue sky thinking is admirable. The NHS needs to balance the books. Just like we all do ....... like a household budget! It's not a difficult concept. Live within your means, cut spending, raise funds etc etc!
Why we chastise the NHS for this ....ummmmmm..... bewildering!
As for walking the suggestion that patients walk to the hospital, well even the able-bodied would find a 25 mile round trip on foot somewhat onerous, and we are talking about sick people here.
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but if someone is such distress as to be unable to read and operate a ticket machine you have to wonder whether they were really fit to drive themselves there is the first place, when a wandering mind or lapse in concentration can be much more serious than a parking fine.
Blue badge holders can park for free. They only have to register once with the hospital to have their licence plate exempted. If a blue badge holder really was fined £210 it can only be because they've repeatedly ignored the metering system, the signage and the registration process on several visits.
We can argue the rights and wrongs of having to pay to park there, but accepting the fact for now that we do then the system seems sufficiently flexible and usable that visitors don't seem to have a lot of excuse for failing to pay.