A review into hospital car parking charges has been ordered by the HSE, after it was found that the revenue generated from public hospitals regarding parking fees had more than doubled over a four year period.
It has been reported that since the beginning of 2020, a total of €73.5 million has been collected by public hospitals from parking charges.
The HSE's figures show that Irish people have spent €17.76 million on car park charges at public and voluntary hospitals last year, compared with €7.39 million in 2021, showing an increase of 140% for that period.
Speaking about the review, Damian McCallion, Deputy Chief Officer for the HSE said that it will investigate why the revenue from car parking charges has increased since 2020. He added that it will also come up with "a nationally co-ordinated approach" for the fees.
He said that this move was in response to the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee, but the chair John Brady had said that a further review was not needed, saying that the endeavour was "damning indictment of the Government's failure to tackle this issue".
This also comes after the Government had committed to "explore further ways to reduce hospital car parking charges" last year.
At present, there is no single national contract for the provision of car parking services across all publicly funded hospitals with individual hospitals operating on their own private arrangements.
This review will be led by the HSE's National Director, Brian O'Connell, who is also the Head of Strategic Health Infrastructure and Capital Delivery.
The team have been handed the brief of exploring "the potential unintended consequences of changes to parking charges" and how any new system could "inadvertently make hospital car parks financially attractive to nonhospital users, thereby increasing demand and reducing availability for those attending hospital".
Mr McCallion said: "It is recognised that further progress would best be advanced through a nationally coordinated, but locally delivered, approach".
He said that the review would investigate a number of key areas including: "clarifying the desired national policy approach, including whether the emphasis should be on affordability measures, such as capped rates and concession schemes, or on broader reductions in charges".
It also promises to look into "the financial implications of any proposed changes and identifying sustainable funding options where required" and engage "with Regional Executive Offices and hospitals to understand site-specific circumstances".
Mr McCallion also stated that the review team would compromise "representatives from relevant national functions, finance colleagues, Regional Executive Offices and local operational representatives".
At the time of writing, no deadline was set for this review. (All quotes in this piece according to RTÉ).
